Saw it, didn’t click. For lots of reasons. The main one that a question was asked and I knew the answer: “Attacking Clarke Gayford: Deborah Hill Cone – What was I thinking?”
Answer: Not much and any thought at all was around creating a fuss and attention.
What a load of rubbish and NZH publishes it as headline news! FFS!
The woman seems somewhat unhinged to me. Employing columnists of the questionable calibre of Hill Con(e), NZH is doing a good job turning itself into a cheap, nasty and very dirty tabloid rag. Long may it continue to do so, to the point it fades away into complete oblivion as readers turn to alternative sites for intelligent news and comment.
When I click on articles from the Herald I notice I often go to something I didn’t want to read like sport or one of those sensationalist stories they seem to favor.
Looks like they might be manipulating traffic to get more $$$ (this works because its pay per view not pay per click).
About the gripes of labour dropping hints about all their promises made during the election may need to be ‘scaled back now, or deferred’ due to many of our public services and assets are now seen as being in “a state of disrepair after nine years of national party deferred maintenance”.
Labour are now suffering because of their own right wing MP’s who are controlling the Party policies now of “ultra right wing fiscally tightly pushed policies.”
This will cause Labour to loose the 2020 election.
Labour must begin to enact the “reserve bank act” again as Michael Joseph Savage did in 1935 so they can print emergency funds tax free to fix our severely damaged public services as they were then.
Wake up Labour, or loose the next 2020 election!!!!!!
If these right wing elements inside the labour government are successful at total control the purse stings that will only benefit the rich well off 1%, while destroying us all left behind after nine years of national slash and burn, they will burn in the 2020 election.
Doesn’t quite gel really with Labour’s leader’s intent to be ‘transformational’.
I’m prepared however to wait – just the eeensie weeensiest little bit longer to see whether they’re up to it. After all Jacinda has only just got back from a jaunt and she’s going to be confronted with a shitload of hypocrisy to have to deal with.
I mean there’s WINZzzzzzzzzzzzz
there’s MBIE and the whole shitload of things to have to deal with (like T&C, and bringing back the former CEO on contract – for reasons more likely towards the comfortable rather than the pragmatic, like the growing number of former police officers going through their mid-life crisis in order to build some sort of reality TV ‘enforcer’ apparatus
There’s MPI
There’s DOC
There’s Housing Corp
If the Minister proposes increasing the power of the Commerce Commission to investigate fuel pricing, they might want to start with the social cost of the taxes within fuel that they themselves put on consumers. Fine to point the finger, but make sure you take account of the other four fingers pointing straight back.
Fuel excise plus GST is over 45% of the cost of a litre of fuel:
The cost of taxes levied for specific purposes by the government, and possible anti-competitive behaviour and/or profiteering by suppliers are unrelated issues.
59.524 cents – National Land Transport Fund
6 cents – ACC Motor Vehicle Account
0.66 cents – Local Authorities Fuel Tax
0.3 cents – Petroleum or Engine Fuels Monitoring Levy ”
Each of those items is a fixed per litre amount dedicated to providing specific government services. Whereas the Commerce Commission is about examining the behaviour of private entities extracting a variable profit margin that is hidden from the consumer.
I suggest that if a single supplier (or even manager) thinks it realistic to raise prices across an entire region just to help one station, there’s not enough competition in the marketplace, and changes in government levies are an excuse to disguise margin-padding.
Even without the email, I believe the AA or someone did some interesting work a while back measuring the lag between global oil price changes and corresponding local price changes… and found a considerable bias towards price increases rather than decreases. If capitalism in a competitive market worked, any bias would be in the statistical margin for error as companies competed for market share with as little lag as possible in either direction.
All pretty minor compared to the 11 cents per litre added on throughout Auckland from July this year, on top of the near 50% government cost per litre already imposed.
And the BP email was talking about imposing a 20cpl increase across the region.
When producers importing their own petrol sell it for a 20% profit margin on a high-volume product, I wonder how much of the price-setting is down to the government and how much of it is down to the lack of competition. Compared to supermarkets, for example, which I believe work on single-digit margins.
Basically, is the government inflating the price, or is it merely taxing the proportion of the price that would be extracted as profit, anyway?
Still, if they can sell them for $2/L and decide to arbitrarily increase costs by 10%, I doubt they’d choose to sell at $1.30/L if there were no excise.
If the 59.524 cents National Land Transport Fund excise Andre quotes was taken off, what chance the good folk in the fuel companies would reduce their prices by that much? (That’s a joke.)
“… government is the core driver of fuel increases …”
Not for diesel it isn’t. As far as I can tell, there’s a grand total of $0.0066 per litre of levies, plus a few cents for the ETS, and GST on diesel.
But odds are, if BP (or anyone else) is trying fuckery with petrol pricing then they’re probably trying fuckery with diesel prices too. You reckon that’s something the Commerce Commission should look into, or should they be hands-off because big diesel price swings are mostly due to global oil pricing?
If the Minister proposes increasing the power of the Commerce Commission to investigate fuel pricing, they might want to start with the social cost of the taxes within fuel that they themselves put on consumers.
And what might be the social cost if they removed it?
How much more GHG emissions would we have?
How much more road congestion?
How much more early deaths from pollution?
Amidst all her inner turmoil at least DHC vaguely recognised she wrote a nasty spiteful and undeserved column last week. Which is more than Hosking would ever do with his rants.
And if Clarke Gayford is happy in his new role that is great because he is supporting Jacinda in her role as PM and mum-to-be. If he was photographed looking surly what would the likes of DHC have said then?
Except years ago on tv – an election debate I think with audience participation and questions – when the topic got to taxation she popped up and interjected “what about the wealth creators?”
The vacuous neoliberal equivalent of a 1930’s cloth cap saying “what about the workers?” endlessly.
Randian superhero wealth-creators whom we must never tax in case they get huffy and fail to bestow their beneficence on us lowly, worthless scum.
Knew from that point on that she was a gullible fool with a nasty streak – so not listening and will never listen.
. I feel sorry for Theresa May. And that Rudd one, who looks like she is wearing a rubber Halloween mask based on her own face. What if, because you were all going on about how great Ukip were, and how Nigel Farage was only saying what people had been thinking all along, and all these people coming over here, May and Rudd thought you wanted them to be racist too, like you are? And so back in 2013, to please you, they did some racism, and wrote racist stuff on racist vans and drove them around laughing.
And in so doing, May furthered the creation of The Hostile Environment, which sounds like an irradiated wasteland where teenage amazons get sent to die in The Hunger Games. May probably wasn’t really all that racist herself, and only did the racism because she thought you wanted it, you racists.
[…]
Deporting and depriving those nice old black people who have been here for ever was wrong. And when they came for that Canadian dinner lady in Wolverhampton, who was actually white, and told her to go home as life in Britain was about to become “increasingly difficult” for her, that was definitely too much.
How could someone who had lived in Wolverhampton for 47 years, breathing toxic smog, dancing to Slade, and eating only faggots and peas, be expected to readjust to the land of clean mountain air, the thoughtful roots rock of the Tragically Hip, and light and fluffy blueberry muffins? It is inhumane.
No, it wasn’t the dinner lady and the nice black family from the electrical shop who had to go. It was the other foreigners. The bad ones, who scrounge and steal and are lazy. Not the ones that were like people you knew, harmless tropical fish caught in a dragnet sweeping for sharks. It’s the anonymous parade of frightening brown faces on that Vote Leave poster. They’re the bad ones.
What has happened is despicable in particular May’s government destroying the paper work so that they can’t prove they are citizens and using Kafka type policy to make it impossible for some to prove they live there. (apparently tax records are not enough!)
But part of it stems from stupidity. Other EU countries aka Germany put in provisions when they joined the EU to protect their jobs and welfare of it’s own citizens, UK of course did not. What happened was by 2006, over 600,000 EU citizens came into the UK and the stupid government thought it would be 15,000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5273356.stm
In spite of that they declared in 2006 that there was no damage to the health, jobs, houses, socials security…. it was all good, but by 2013, they started cutting benefits https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/31/benefit-cuts-poor-disabled-tax, taking from the easiest targets, those who are on welfare and the disabled with changes to benefits, and tried to pick off the weakest migrants, asylum seekers, the commonwealth countries aka Kiwi changes to visas, and those that have the least power like the Windrush now taking place 2017.
They have now also completely fucked up with Brexit.
Obviously those with money, whether Chinese, middle eastern or Russian (sort of) are still welcome to build the sleek high rises and buy bolt holes there.
This isn’t about racism, it becomes about money and power and networks and stupidity and failure of forward planning and when the shit hits the fan, not to admit mistakes but to then target, easy targets….
“Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows that by the end of 2017, British GDP was already higher by 3.2 percent relative to its level at the time of the Brexit vote — a far cry from the deep recession we were told to expect.”
Could Hooton possibly get more objectionable!!?? Ryan has no control over him at all. Let’s him take over by interrupting to state his ‘truth’ and then state with no irony at all that both sides have been heard and debate was good
Stephen Mills was gazzumped good and proper. Well played Ryan. No wonder Labour is always on the backfoot media wise…. Flipping incensed!
Watched simon bridges being interviewed on newshub this morning. He is already trying to bait voters with possible tax cuts. LMFAO !!! Is that all you have to offer simon? Worries about our stretched infrastructure, dirty environment, underfunded education and struggling health system, let’s not talk about that.
Fun fact….. digital tv brings up the genres of tv shows.
Any news on tv3 such as the AM Show, Newshub news etc has the genre description of ‘entertainment’.
Over on TVNZ news shows like Breakfast, One News etc are genre labelled as ‘news, factual’.
Personally, I found that rather amusing.
Paddy G, is doing a story on Gloriavale tonight on Newshub if any are interested. I’ll be tuning in for sure.
A couple of times I’ve seen members of that cult in Motueka at the supermarket, have wanted to approach the ladies and tell them their leader is a convicted pedophile, but both times I didn’t have the opportunity. It’s very saddening when sickos use religion to control people, Gloriavale is a prime example.
Dancing with the star’s the sandflys are cheating they have blocked my.computa my oh my wife Oh they don’t like me educating te tangata about the systems in Aotearoa at the minute being rigged buy them and there associates Ana to kaiI ka kite ano p.s this is the 4 device I have used to get my post out ha ha ha
Rodger I missed your dance I seem the rerun you did good m8 I will vote for you ka kite ano P.S I don’t have a problem with religions just fanatics of any kind they try and imposes there ways on us and think that there views are the only ones that count like that guy
The Am Show good morning confidence is everything and self worth that is the reason I am letting all people know that Maori Culture is a Great Culture and to be proud of OUR culture and tipuna to lift all peoples respect of Maori Culture .
Fuel prices is a joke for many months Rotorua had the cheap prices for fuel now there are 2 other place that are much cheaper Te Mount Manganui and Tokoroa I say they are colluding to milk as much money as the fuel companys can out of us .
Duncan yes that’s the drinking culture we need to promote the cool way to drink responsible way of drinking not the binge drinking fools that is what is celebrated at the minute.
That’s excellent news the whole Waitakere range is closed to try and stop the Kauri die back disease ka pai Auckland Its a good day when we start fixing the railway line to Wairoa ka pai to our new Coalition Goverment the next step will be to Gisborne . Ka kite ano P.S I have a back up plan to counter the sandflies attack on Eco Maoris comms.
I seen some thing magic this weekend my Eco Maori sign disappeared I know who did it so I just made a new one you see I no that they are just trying to intimidate me into reacting badly but Eco Maori thinks before I react .
Thursday nite the sirens were going off all over Rotorua the 3 types they were not close to my house but there is no doubt that the sirens were for Eco Maori.
And some idiot who dropped me from mowing his lawn wants me to do some work for him in Tauranga well he can————— you no what I know the sandflies have been to all my clients the fools I played along a bit with there game . So because they have smoke coming out there——— I know what they are up to and also that what I have been saying is true because of there reactions .Ana to kai
Ka kite ano P.S I can see there actors immediately now
Some farmer by Lake Ellesmere who has no respect for OUR native fauna he would have known about these precious plants when he brought the property this would have a well known fact that the Tororaro is there and endangered he will get his own bad Karma hears the link .
So Eco Maori was not just imagining that if I was brought up by my white father that I would not have all this attention bestowed on me by the sandflies I NEW THAT. And look at the regions that have no success in lowering the rate of arrest for Maori and what do you no one of those regions is the region I live in racism is alive and kicking in my neck of the woods the big problem is that the Force can not even admit that this exists in there organization. To me some are scared to get off side with this organization that is telling another story of bulling gone rife in this organization my supporters can vouch for this to well I don’t care if I’M at odds with this organization I will tell it like I see it full stop I have the support of my———-. I just want to look after my whano and carry on the good cause for all the underprivileged people Papatuanuka and all her beautiful creations.
heres the link. Ka kite ano
Newshub John Ready you keep the fighting for your whano you will have to use the laws that Paddy talked about being breached m8 that will make them bend .
Ka pai Paddy .
Mike artificial intelligence should be feared m8 we have to make sure the bad people cannot corrupted artificial intelligence to ignore this fact is to be in fantasy land and believe that there are no evil people in the World and in reality we no there are heaps of people whom would love to dictate and dominate everything on Papatuanuku the World. What was that guy hiding wearing his sunnies thats what I see.
Kate that movie Breaker Upper will display the awesome Kiwi wit and humor Ka pai Ladies I will be watching it as soon as I can.Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild I have not got the computa problems I had last nite.
Mulls and James . Blair Tuke he will have to learn the old maori way of navigation on the Volvo Ocean race using the stars the roll of the waves and the birds is what they used and it was not a accident that the old Maori found Aotearoa it was thought pure skills not electricity no fancey navigation tools just the compass and charts a Blair.Ka pai
Shaquem is a good role model for all the disabled tangata people around Papatuanuku Ka kite ano .P.S that mokopunas is so original and hard case
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Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
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Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, 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. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
An in depth look at the P epidemic destroying the lives of so many our citizens.
http://shorthand.radionz.co.nz/brokenbad/index.html
Thank you for that link Ed
I have to agree. P is the most terrible of drugs.
I wouldn’t agree. The most terrible of drugs is alcohol.
Agreed
Health Minister opens door for speculation about govt breaking promises Labour party made during campaign:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/356213/cuts-to-doctor-s-fees-may-be-phased-in-over-time
Journo obliges:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12041822
The similar Newshub story is briefer: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/04/gp-visits-might-not-get-cheaper-soon-after-all.html
Deborah Hill-Cone walks it all back from attack the Prime Minister’s partner and thinking she would get away with it.
She blames it on being “inherently clumsy” and not restraining her “inner monologue”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12041708
🙂
Ya mean Hill Con (spelt with and e)
The real victim is her. Read all about it.
I won’t read her infantile psychologising of everything.
So not clicking
Is that a hirrald link?
Saw it, didn’t click. For lots of reasons. The main one that a question was asked and I knew the answer: “Attacking Clarke Gayford: Deborah Hill Cone – What was I thinking?”
Answer: Not much and any thought at all was around creating a fuss and attention.
Yes saw the headline (more click bait IMHO)…………ignored………………..as I have being with all the Herald’s on-line articles. Feels good, feel cleansed.
Whatever Ms Cone-Hill was thinking it shouldn’t be the subject matter for the largest daily newspaper in our country.
Have a letter to the Herald about this and Ms DPA nearly ready to send.
Amazing the Herald gives her so much space for a long-winded self indulgent ‘confession.’
What a silly, egocentric woman! And as for the Herald giving space to that blather – words fail me!
Yet, stap me, you lot just enabled the proliferation of such crap by devoting 10 comments to it.
Ignore it already!
There is also some good stuff coming out of the Herald. You just have to be very selective who you click on to… and ignore the nincompoops.
For instance, Kate Hawkesby has written a couple of reasonable pieces lately. If she keeps this up I’ll be putting her on my ‘to read’ list:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12041993
Agreed, Anne.
Kirsty Johnston, Simon Collins, Matt Nippert, et al
There’s the wheat, and then there’s the chaff.
I’ll continue to peruse the Herald website, since I’m capable of telling the difference.
Read your link Ad (3) Thanks.
What a load of rubbish and NZH publishes it as headline news! FFS!
The woman seems somewhat unhinged to me. Employing columnists of the questionable calibre of Hill Con(e), NZH is doing a good job turning itself into a cheap, nasty and very dirty tabloid rag. Long may it continue to do so, to the point it fades away into complete oblivion as readers turn to alternative sites for intelligent news and comment.
Boycotting Herald
When I click on articles from the Herald I notice I often go to something I didn’t want to read like sport or one of those sensationalist stories they seem to favor.
Looks like they might be manipulating traffic to get more $$$ (this works because its pay per view not pay per click).
Herald does blackhat shit to stay alive. Losers.
I think you are simply internetting wrong.
About the gripes of labour dropping hints about all their promises made during the election may need to be ‘scaled back now, or deferred’ due to many of our public services and assets are now seen as being in “a state of disrepair after nine years of national party deferred maintenance”.
Labour are now suffering because of their own right wing MP’s who are controlling the Party policies now of “ultra right wing fiscally tightly pushed policies.”
This will cause Labour to loose the 2020 election.
Labour must begin to enact the “reserve bank act” again as Michael Joseph Savage did in 1935 so they can print emergency funds tax free to fix our severely damaged public services as they were then.
Wake up Labour, or loose the next 2020 election!!!!!!
If these right wing elements inside the labour government are successful at total control the purse stings that will only benefit the rich well off 1%, while destroying us all left behind after nine years of national slash and burn, they will burn in the 2020 election.
Ahhh yeah. I remember this one from my youth, it’s a goody.
Setting, late afternoon, wet pavements, Parliament, after the glow has dimmed…..
Act 1
Scene I – ‘Opening the books’
Scene II – ‘ Wherefore our inheritance?’
Scene III – ‘Clutch’d our pearls’
Act 2
Scene I – ‘Who will save us, look, the mob bestirs’
Scene II – ‘Tina, Tina! tis the only path’
Act 3
Scene 1 – ‘We are saved, mob dis-pursed’
‘Dis-pursed’ indeed!
Cutpurse rascals all of them.
Doesn’t quite gel really with Labour’s leader’s intent to be ‘transformational’.
I’m prepared however to wait – just the eeensie weeensiest little bit longer to see whether they’re up to it. After all Jacinda has only just got back from a jaunt and she’s going to be confronted with a shitload of hypocrisy to have to deal with.
I mean there’s WINZzzzzzzzzzzzz
there’s MBIE and the whole shitload of things to have to deal with (like T&C, and bringing back the former CEO on contract – for reasons more likely towards the comfortable rather than the pragmatic, like the growing number of former police officers going through their mid-life crisis in order to build some sort of reality TV ‘enforcer’ apparatus
There’s MPI
There’s DOC
There’s Housing Corp
and that’s before we even get to the rest of it
The Minister of Commerce is concerned about the price “conrolling” by BP in a leaked email:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12041980
If the Minister proposes increasing the power of the Commerce Commission to investigate fuel pricing, they might want to start with the social cost of the taxes within fuel that they themselves put on consumers. Fine to point the finger, but make sure you take account of the other four fingers pointing straight back.
Fuel excise plus GST is over 45% of the cost of a litre of fuel:
https://www.aa.co.nz/cars/owning-a-car/fuel-prices-and-types/how-petrol-prices-are-calculated/
Is the government itself not fixing the price of fuel far more than the oil industry?
“A National Party MP and the Automobile Association (AA) are calling for the fuel industry to be more transparent about its pricing …”
So Jonathan Young is concerned? How terrible to be suddenly stricken by concern about fuel pricing. Jonathan, you’re a legend.
The cost of taxes levied for specific purposes by the government, and possible anti-competitive behaviour and/or profiteering by suppliers are unrelated issues.
from https://www.aa.co.nz/cars/owning-a-car/fuel-prices-and-types/petrol/
“The fuel excise portion includes:
59.524 cents – National Land Transport Fund
6 cents – ACC Motor Vehicle Account
0.66 cents – Local Authorities Fuel Tax
0.3 cents – Petroleum or Engine Fuels Monitoring Levy ”
Each of those items is a fixed per litre amount dedicated to providing specific government services. Whereas the Commerce Commission is about examining the behaviour of private entities extracting a variable profit margin that is hidden from the consumer.
Fully aware of the regulatory remit.
But government is the core driver of fuel increases, not the private sector.
So it is they that should be held to account for price changes.
Government are not sacred. On the contrary the ability to tax is a monopoly power needing the highest scrutiny.
The fuss over one BP email is by comparison misdirected.
How often do the levies fluctuate?
I suggest that if a single supplier (or even manager) thinks it realistic to raise prices across an entire region just to help one station, there’s not enough competition in the marketplace, and changes in government levies are an excuse to disguise margin-padding.
Even without the email, I believe the AA or someone did some interesting work a while back measuring the lag between global oil price changes and corresponding local price changes… and found a considerable bias towards price increases rather than decreases. If capitalism in a competitive market worked, any bias would be in the statistical margin for error as companies competed for market share with as little lag as possible in either direction.
All pretty minor compared to the 11 cents per litre added on throughout Auckland from July this year, on top of the near 50% government cost per litre already imposed.
Auckland Council voted to confirm it today.
And the BP email was talking about imposing a 20cpl increase across the region.
When producers importing their own petrol sell it for a 20% profit margin on a high-volume product, I wonder how much of the price-setting is down to the government and how much of it is down to the lack of competition. Compared to supermarkets, for example, which I believe work on single-digit margins.
Basically, is the government inflating the price, or is it merely taxing the proportion of the price that would be extracted as profit, anyway?
“Compared to supermarkets, for example, which I believe work on single-digit margins.”
Nope, depends what the product line is there can be quite large variances.
Fair enough. Still seems like a bloody good earner.
petrol, not the supermarkets.
Where does that figure of a 20% profit margin come from?
It seems very high to me.
AA link in AD’s comment 6.
That 19% is *all* the gross NZ-based wholesale and retailing costs, including the profit.
damn, you’re right.
Still, if they can sell them for $2/L and decide to arbitrarily increase costs by 10%, I doubt they’d choose to sell at $1.30/L if there were no excise.
Great question definitely worth a Commerce Commission investigation.
[Citation Needed]
Citation provided above.
Do keep up.
Govt does not vary its levies across different stations or regions (yet).
Like I said, July.
60 days away.
And just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
If the 59.524 cents National Land Transport Fund excise Andre quotes was taken off, what chance the good folk in the fuel companies would reduce their prices by that much? (That’s a joke.)
If you want free petrol go drill and refine it.
Still cheaper than beer.
“… government is the core driver of fuel increases …”
Not for diesel it isn’t. As far as I can tell, there’s a grand total of $0.0066 per litre of levies, plus a few cents for the ETS, and GST on diesel.
But odds are, if BP (or anyone else) is trying fuckery with petrol pricing then they’re probably trying fuckery with diesel prices too. You reckon that’s something the Commerce Commission should look into, or should they be hands-off because big diesel price swings are mostly due to global oil pricing?
And what might be the social cost if they removed it?
How much more GHG emissions would we have?
How much more road congestion?
How much more early deaths from pollution?
In July you will find out.
Personally I think there’s very little elasticity at all.
Maybe not in July but maybe quite a lot in January.
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/reports/331/docs/331.pdf
Good questions there Draco,
It’s worth Government investigating them.
Amidst all her inner turmoil at least DHC vaguely recognised she wrote a nasty spiteful and undeserved column last week. Which is more than Hosking would ever do with his rants.
And if Clarke Gayford is happy in his new role that is great because he is supporting Jacinda in her role as PM and mum-to-be. If he was photographed looking surly what would the likes of DHC have said then?
DHC should stick to her yoga and rummikub.
Except years ago on tv – an election debate I think with audience participation and questions – when the topic got to taxation she popped up and interjected “what about the wealth creators?”
The vacuous neoliberal equivalent of a 1930’s cloth cap saying “what about the workers?” endlessly.
Randian superhero wealth-creators whom we must never tax in case they get huffy and fail to bestow their beneficence on us lowly, worthless scum.
Knew from that point on that she was a gullible fool with a nasty streak – so not listening and will never listen.
Amber Rudd the UK Home Sec has gone.
For 6 months Amelia Gentleman at The Guardian has been highlighting the dreadful treatment suffered by the Windrush migrants at the hands of Theresa May’s Home Office in the face of total indifference by the Tory government. She and the Guardian deserve a medal for their work on this.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/29/amber-rudd-resigns-as-home-secretary-after-windrush-scandal
Dude lays blame.
.
I feel sorry for Theresa May. And that Rudd one, who looks like she is wearing a rubber Halloween mask based on her own face. What if, because you were all going on about how great Ukip were, and how Nigel Farage was only saying what people had been thinking all along, and all these people coming over here, May and Rudd thought you wanted them to be racist too, like you are? And so back in 2013, to please you, they did some racism, and wrote racist stuff on racist vans and drove them around laughing.
And in so doing, May furthered the creation of The Hostile Environment, which sounds like an irradiated wasteland where teenage amazons get sent to die in The Hunger Games. May probably wasn’t really all that racist herself, and only did the racism because she thought you wanted it, you racists.
[…]
Deporting and depriving those nice old black people who have been here for ever was wrong. And when they came for that Canadian dinner lady in Wolverhampton, who was actually white, and told her to go home as life in Britain was about to become “increasingly difficult” for her, that was definitely too much.
How could someone who had lived in Wolverhampton for 47 years, breathing toxic smog, dancing to Slade, and eating only faggots and peas, be expected to readjust to the land of clean mountain air, the thoughtful roots rock of the Tragically Hip, and light and fluffy blueberry muffins? It is inhumane.
No, it wasn’t the dinner lady and the nice black family from the electrical shop who had to go. It was the other foreigners. The bad ones, who scrounge and steal and are lazy. Not the ones that were like people you knew, harmless tropical fish caught in a dragnet sweeping for sharks. It’s the anonymous parade of frightening brown faces on that Vote Leave poster. They’re the bad ones.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/29/the-racists-won-so-are-they-happy-now-stewart-lee
I still love the idea that St Geaorge, patron saint of England, was actually Syrian.
What has happened is despicable in particular May’s government destroying the paper work so that they can’t prove they are citizens and using Kafka type policy to make it impossible for some to prove they live there. (apparently tax records are not enough!)
But part of it stems from stupidity. Other EU countries aka Germany put in provisions when they joined the EU to protect their jobs and welfare of it’s own citizens, UK of course did not. What happened was by 2006, over 600,000 EU citizens came into the UK and the stupid government thought it would be 15,000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5273356.stm
In spite of that they declared in 2006 that there was no damage to the health, jobs, houses, socials security…. it was all good, but by 2013, they started cutting benefits https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/31/benefit-cuts-poor-disabled-tax, taking from the easiest targets, those who are on welfare and the disabled with changes to benefits, and tried to pick off the weakest migrants, asylum seekers, the commonwealth countries aka Kiwi changes to visas, and those that have the least power like the Windrush now taking place 2017.
They have now also completely fucked up with Brexit.
Obviously those with money, whether Chinese, middle eastern or Russian (sort of) are still welcome to build the sleek high rises and buy bolt holes there.
This isn’t about racism, it becomes about money and power and networks and stupidity and failure of forward planning and when the shit hits the fan, not to admit mistakes but to then target, easy targets….
Although this is food for thought on Brexit….
Why the Left Should Embrace Brexit
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/04/brexit-labour-party-socialist-left-corbyn
Yes savenz,
Those facts speak for themselves now don’t they?
No ‘apocalypse’ was seen there.
“Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows that by the end of 2017, British GDP was already higher by 3.2 percent relative to its level at the time of the Brexit vote — a far cry from the deep recession we were told to expect.”
I don’t get The Press, but the place where I work subscribes.
Today’s Press in tabloid format. The beginning of the end?
My local paper also in tabloid form.
A newspaper worker explained that it’s to do with the cost of paper itself- broad sheet has become more expensive and tabloid cheaper.
There are also economies being made in layout.
The beginning of the end? This person thought so- five years.
Could Hooton possibly get more objectionable!!?? Ryan has no control over him at all. Let’s him take over by interrupting to state his ‘truth’ and then state with no irony at all that both sides have been heard and debate was good
Stephen Mills was gazzumped good and proper. Well played Ryan. No wonder Labour is always on the backfoot media wise…. Flipping incensed!
Yes me too Ffloyd,
Where is the ditsy Minister of Broadcasting lady (Clare Curran) that had repeatedly promised us a new commercial free investigative journalism channel they called RNZ+ ???????.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96745495/labour-promises-freetoair-rnz-tv-channel
Labour promises free-to-air RNZ TV channel
HENRY COOKE
Last updated 10:52, September 12 2017
We need a ‘biased free channel not these highly biased channels we have now like RNZ, TV1& Newshub.
I am definitely disgusted at the current ‘media mafia’ we now have as it is so self serving.
Watched simon bridges being interviewed on newshub this morning. He is already trying to bait voters with possible tax cuts. LMFAO !!! Is that all you have to offer simon? Worries about our stretched infrastructure, dirty environment, underfunded education and struggling health system, let’s not talk about that.
Fun fact….. digital tv brings up the genres of tv shows.
Any news on tv3 such as the AM Show, Newshub news etc has the genre description of ‘entertainment’.
Over on TVNZ news shows like Breakfast, One News etc are genre labelled as ‘news, factual’.
Personally, I found that rather amusing.
Annotated transcript of the Michelle Wolf monologue that has the wingnuts all-a-flutter.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/04/29/michelle-wolfs-caustic-comedy-routine-at-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-annotated/?utm_term=.31365edd581f#annotations:14443722
Paddy G, is doing a story on Gloriavale tonight on Newshub if any are interested. I’ll be tuning in for sure.
A couple of times I’ve seen members of that cult in Motueka at the supermarket, have wanted to approach the ladies and tell them their leader is a convicted pedophile, but both times I didn’t have the opportunity. It’s very saddening when sickos use religion to control people, Gloriavale is a prime example.
Dancing with the star’s the sandflys are cheating they have blocked my.computa my oh my wife Oh they don’t like me educating te tangata about the systems in Aotearoa at the minute being rigged buy them and there associates Ana to kaiI ka kite ano p.s this is the 4 device I have used to get my post out ha ha ha
Rodger I missed your dance I seem the rerun you did good m8 I will vote for you ka kite ano P.S I don’t have a problem with religions just fanatics of any kind they try and imposes there ways on us and think that there views are the only ones that count like that guy
Ruth Dyson’s office has screwed up, leaving the parliamentary seal on party campaign literature or something like that.
Front-footing the apology etc, but still a stupid error to let slip.
The Am Show good morning confidence is everything and self worth that is the reason I am letting all people know that Maori Culture is a Great Culture and to be proud of OUR culture and tipuna to lift all peoples respect of Maori Culture .
Fuel prices is a joke for many months Rotorua had the cheap prices for fuel now there are 2 other place that are much cheaper Te Mount Manganui and Tokoroa I say they are colluding to milk as much money as the fuel companys can out of us .
Duncan yes that’s the drinking culture we need to promote the cool way to drink responsible way of drinking not the binge drinking fools that is what is celebrated at the minute.
That’s excellent news the whole Waitakere range is closed to try and stop the Kauri die back disease ka pai Auckland Its a good day when we start fixing the railway line to Wairoa ka pai to our new Coalition Goverment the next step will be to Gisborne . Ka kite ano P.S I have a back up plan to counter the sandflies attack on Eco Maoris comms.
I seen some thing magic this weekend my Eco Maori sign disappeared I know who did it so I just made a new one you see I no that they are just trying to intimidate me into reacting badly but Eco Maori thinks before I react .
Thursday nite the sirens were going off all over Rotorua the 3 types they were not close to my house but there is no doubt that the sirens were for Eco Maori.
And some idiot who dropped me from mowing his lawn wants me to do some work for him in Tauranga well he can————— you no what I know the sandflies have been to all my clients the fools I played along a bit with there game . So because they have smoke coming out there——— I know what they are up to and also that what I have been saying is true because of there reactions .Ana to kai
Ka kite ano P.S I can see there actors immediately now
Some farmer by Lake Ellesmere who has no respect for OUR native fauna he would have known about these precious plants when he brought the property this would have a well known fact that the Tororaro is there and endangered he will get his own bad Karma hears the link .
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/103507786/court-action-over-alleged-endangered-plant-destruction Ana to kai ka kite ano
So Eco Maori was not just imagining that if I was brought up by my white father that I would not have all this attention bestowed on me by the sandflies I NEW THAT. And look at the regions that have no success in lowering the rate of arrest for Maori and what do you no one of those regions is the region I live in racism is alive and kicking in my neck of the woods the big problem is that the Force can not even admit that this exists in there organization. To me some are scared to get off side with this organization that is telling another story of bulling gone rife in this organization my supporters can vouch for this to well I don’t care if I’M at odds with this organization I will tell it like I see it full stop I have the support of my———-. I just want to look after my whano and carry on the good cause for all the underprivileged people Papatuanuka and all her beautiful creations.
heres the link. Ka kite ano
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/103137846/police-politics-and-race-the-long-and-anguished-tale-of-the-constabularys-relationship-with-maori P.S I don’t despise religions just fanatics of any kind I admire the morels and family bonding of religions and I no the one that I attended with my MaMa is the one for me all in good time .
If this person was brown he would have never got home dentition link bellow
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12042374
Ka kite ano
And here we go Eco Maoris proof of contracted lairs in my link below they are scum.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12036644
Ana to kai ka kite ano
another link
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2018/may/01/cardinal-george-pell-committal-trial-historical-sexual-offence-charges-live
And there is poison in our food and they say they don’t no why cancer is on the rise.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/30/fda-weedkiller-glyphosate-in-food-internal-emails
Newshub John Ready you keep the fighting for your whano you will have to use the laws that Paddy talked about being breached m8 that will make them bend .
Ka pai Paddy .
Mike artificial intelligence should be feared m8 we have to make sure the bad people cannot corrupted artificial intelligence to ignore this fact is to be in fantasy land and believe that there are no evil people in the World and in reality we no there are heaps of people whom would love to dictate and dominate everything on Papatuanuku the World. What was that guy hiding wearing his sunnies thats what I see.
Kate that movie Breaker Upper will display the awesome Kiwi wit and humor Ka pai Ladies I will be watching it as soon as I can.Ka kite ano
The Crowd Goes Wild I have not got the computa problems I had last nite.
Mulls and James . Blair Tuke he will have to learn the old maori way of navigation on the Volvo Ocean race using the stars the roll of the waves and the birds is what they used and it was not a accident that the old Maori found Aotearoa it was thought pure skills not electricity no fancey navigation tools just the compass and charts a Blair.Ka pai
Shaquem is a good role model for all the disabled tangata people around Papatuanuku Ka kite ano .P.S that mokopunas is so original and hard case