Open mike 30/04/2021

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, April 30th, 2021 - 89 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

89 comments on “Open mike 30/04/2021 ”

  1. Sanctuary 1

    Makes for good reading, especially for all the Cassandras around here who spend all day renting their clothes and gnashing their teeth that Labour hasn't immediately declared a people’s proletariat and (after suitable show trials) shot the landlords.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/audrey-young-labours-manifesto-now-has-the-teeth-it-lacked-last-term/EXXECPHAV3ILAZH25USQ3D4L44/

    "…This term, because there is nothing holding back Labour, the manifesto is its pre-eminent policy document. Policies implemented so far:

    • Increased the minimum wage to $20 an hour.

    • Increased abatement thresholds before benefits are affected to $160 a week.

    • Expanded access to flexi-wage and increase subsidy to fund up to 40,000 New Zealanders into supported work.

    • Required Commerce Commission to do market study into supermarket sector.

    • Restarted the refugee quota programme.

    • Introduced new tax rate of 39 per cent on incomes over $180,000.

    • Begun to expand free lunch in schools programme.

    • Rolling out free period products to all primary, intermediate, secondary school and kura from June 2021.

    • Rolling out targeted funding for mental health services for Rainbow young people.

    • Introduced clean car import standard to reduce emissions and fuel costs.

    • Supporting councils to decarbonise the public transport bus fleet by 2035.

    • Reinstated the 100 per cent funding band for ECEs.

    • Introduced a progressive procurement policy around Māori businesses.

    • Launched $55 million fund for public interest journalism.

    • Established Just Transition Unit to prepare for closure of Tiwai.

    • Announced first date for Matariki public holiday.

    • Opened quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia.

    • Ending the installation of new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers.

    • Expanding sick leave entitlements to 10 days…"

    Not bad for six months in the face of a pandemic and a hostile press!!

    • Herodotus 1.1

      Let’s talk about housing. Grant feed the fire that is destorying this market and contributing to all these worsening social conditions and then he walks away and leaves the reserve bank to fix his screw up.

      Ask people out there after all these announcements are their living conditons improving or going backwards. And after reading your list that is the bottom line, how are peoples lives ?

      • Sabine 1.1.1

        Let me tell you Herodotus, that his list has not been compiled to talk about housing. That list was compiled for people to feel good about a government that is failing many.

        • Herodotus 1.1.1.1

          Funny how housing is being excluded. For the umtenth time much of our social ills are a result of inadequate housing. Whilst we have the green co leader distancing herself from her responsibilities, Megan and co gone MIA that for me sums it up for any real solutions.

          • Sabine 1.1.1.1.1

            Marama Davidson is Associate Minister of Homelessness. Without the minister of housing, Labour Person Wood she can't do much. So frankly as i said the other day, she did not get the job to win, she got the job to fail. My advice to her would be, run – not walk – away and be excellent outside this government on the opposition bench.

            • Incognito 1.1.1.1.1.1

              Being on the Opposition bench is worse than being a lame possum caught in the headlights on a RONS.

        • Incognito 1.1.1.2

          Audrey Young and the NZ Herald want to make us feel good about this Government? How Machiavellian of them.

          That’s comedy gold laugh

          • mac1 1.1.1.2.1

            Yes, the next comedic line will be to assert that the government has got it all wrong because the Herald supports it.

            It's the converse of the old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

            Here it has become, "Who doesn’t attack my enemy's actions is also my enemy."

            That line of laughable logic surfaced most recently with critics of our government in the 5 Eyes issue saying that we support the Chinese government in its actions against the Uighur because they assert we haven't criticised it in public recently.

            • Incognito 1.1.1.2.1.1

              Indeed, if a Minister doesn’t show their face in the 24-hour news cycle they are MIA. The logic of simpletons and the great unthinking. Many can’t read between the metaphorical lines and absorb nuance and context, which makes all the difference. To them, life is like a box of Roses chocolates: it’s all crap.

              • Sabine

                Yei! you learned about chocolate. I am so happy! Really i wuz worried you would waste your hard earned money on milkpowder, palmoil, refined sugar, chocolate flavoring and chocolate coloring. You made my day.

                • Incognito

                  laugh

                  Belgium chocolate is the best; Swiss chocolate has got too many holes in it and makes me hear Alphorns and yodelling.

                  • Sabine

                    Good, then i can now expect no more bad faith offers of bad crappy chocolate to keep me sweet. I generally am not sweet, don't want to be sweet, and have stopped being sweet in order to please some people a long time a go.

                    thanks.

                    • Incognito

                      I actually like Sauerkraut but your Teutonic temperament spoils it. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. I highly recommend chocolate fondue.

                  • greywarshark

                    Mm chocolate – chocolate fondue Mmmmm. Chocolate mousse is good too. Some chocolate is good for one's health apparently, oh bliss! No doubt in small, regular amounts enough to keep us going and smiling as well.

                  • Patricia Bremner

                    Whittakers Chocolate. We can be proud of that!!

      • Adrian 1.1.2

        Bullshit , no one person can exert that much power, even Gates or Musk havent got enough money to buy enough houses to force that much demand. It is simply pent up demand and fear of missing out and stupidity. If people stopped buying the market would collapse.

      • Louis 1.1.3

        @ Herodotus, Audrey didnt "include extra things like housing policies & Maori wards" See 1.2

    • Louis 1.2

      "doesn't include extra things like housing policies & Maori wards"

      https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1387912277932666880

    • Tiger Mountain 1.3

      Good stuff…and my unreserved praise goes to Min wage boost, Local Democracy Reporting, Period products, and qualified approval to the rest, but…

      …WEAG (Welfare Experts Advisory Group Report) remains unimplemented in the main particularly re raising Benefit levels, Fair Pay Agreements are not going to happen in any shape significantly useful to unions–workers should ideally get pay boosts from the employing class not other taxpayers e.g, WFF. A public housing mega build has barely crossed the Labour Caucus conciousness, middle class people are now having to scrape together deposits for their kids in the overheated property scene–need I go on?

      This Govt. retains heavy structural neo liberalism in legislation and methodology re funder/provider splits, contracting out, PPPs, managerialism and free in and outflow of capital. This majority MMP Govt. retains absolute support for the 36 year monetarist consensus amongst main Parliamentary political parties.

      These are basic issues for the NZ working class that need urgent attention, and NZ Labour is in for a significant arse bite in 2023 if they do not raise benefits, start building houses and apartments, and control rents.

  2. Sanctuary 2

    You know, every mistake made by this government in relation to covid has been forensically examined and represented hysterically in the media as a "massive failure" or a "border blunder" or MIQ "shambles."

    However, if you are the NZ Herald and you rely almost excuslively on real estate and travel advertising to stay in business then a cock up at Brisbane airport is characterised as a gentle "hiccup"

    "..Live: Bubble hiccup – warning for NZ travellers after airport breach in Australia.."

    The Herald knows which side it's toast is buttered.

    • Jimmy 2.1

      Audrey Young of the NZ Herald certainly knows which side her toast is buttered. Her ratings of the ministers yesterday were laughable. I felt sorry for Damien O'Connor only receiving a 4/10 which was the lowest (he must be in her bad books). Even Marama got a 5/10!

      • WeTheBleeple 2.1.1

        LOL. She's giving ratings for ministers. What is she 15? Hope she also did a "who's hot and who's not" article, just to reinforce her 'style'.

      • Stuart Munro 2.1.2

        It's about time we rated journalists – not many would reach the towering heights of a 3/10.

          • Stuart Munro 2.1.2.1.1

            Yeah – we've made a broad negative observation – but we haven't brought it home to the worst performers just how poorly they serve the public, and how badly they are eroding their platform's bottom line.

            Lady I know did her PhD on quality in journalism. The papers she worked with lifted circulation by around 70%. There's money in doing the job properly, as well as public service.

            • Incognito 2.1.2.1.1.1

              The public is fickle and with so much choice at their fingertips, they go for the low hanging fruit that gives an instant hit. It is like an addiction and they keep coming back for more. Even drug lords understand this.

              • Stuart Munro

                Well, not everyone notices the satire implicit in La donna e mobile. The worst media chase the sugar hit. But over the medium term, the public tire of it – Tova's latest feigned outrage no longer gets the adrenaline flowing, and they start browsing elsewhere.

                It's well known, and the demise of The Truth is a local demonstration that degrading content is a poor strategy.

                • WeTheBleeple

                  Absolutely agree. I avoid many news sources as I'm not that keen on wasting my time – even when I'm wasting time.

                  Now that 'everyone's a content creator' the sea of mediocre and rubbish content that we're all awash in has become more than simply tedious, it's repugnant. Folk are aware, folk are looking for better.

                  Every day I block sites for life (of this computer at least). These sites use money and resources to get my attention yet have nothing but trivia to offer. Blocked for life. I hope the expense to wedge garbage onto the screens of myself and my peers hurts really bad. It's the least I can do.

                • greywarshark

                  I think that we ought to keep a closer eye on The Civilian. I haven't seen it mentioned much here. For news with a twist, you can't go past it I reckon. Look at The Herald quickly then glance over to The Civilian and imbibe it with your Cornflakes – they would go together well.

                  Who read about this amazing new approach to our housing problem in March? It seems as beautifully written as usual.

                  http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/scientists-begin-search-for-elusive-capital-gain-particle-to-explain-runaway-housing-market/

    • Sabine 2.2

      You could also say that calling it a gentle hickup is also a nice nice term to protect those here that opened the gates. Hopefully not to hell.

      My partners company lost their first employee in India. One of the dispatchers called yesterday to querie a machine. The kid is 24 odd years old and is usually the kindest and sweetest person. He was kind, sweet and broken hearted yesterday.

      We all don't know how lucky we are that his little hickup may not be the drop of water that breaches the floodgates.

  3. Sabine 3

    I am really happy for Rainbow Youth to have been provided with something and i hope that they are to be provided with more then just a promise of money.

    However if we take labels away, we learn that Children and teenagers (Youth) as of April 2021 is not getting the mental health when they need it.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300271651/wait-times-for-youth-mental-health-services-balloon-out-under-labour-despite-huge-investment

    Wait times for children and teenagers trying to access mental health care have increased by almost two weeks since Labour was elected in 2017, despite a billion-dollar promise to fix the ailing sector.

    New figures provided to Stuff show the average wait time across 16 of the 20 district health boards increased to 33 days for the year ended July 2020, up from 21 days when Labour was elected – with some DHBs seeing wait times as high as 72 days, well over two months.

    Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) provides treatment to teenagers and children with the most severe mental health issues.

    Health Minister Andrew Little said wait times had gone up, but the Government was focused on growing the mental health workforce.

    But Mr. Little is growing a mental health workforce, he just needs a bit of manure (horse or sheep or chicken) and comfrey tea to help it grow a bit faster. The last 4 years of growing seems to have had no effect.

    But then we don’t really get the stats we used to says Chloe Swarbrook, but then Mr. Little is comfortable with the data the they give us. Go figure?

    reen Party mental health spokeswoman Chlöe Swarbrick says the Ministry of Health should be legally required to produce a wide range of mental health statistics, after concerns were raised about a routine mental health report released years late and with significantly less data than it once had.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has distanced her Government from the report too, noting it had all been produced within the ministry She said she herself was having trouble finding a specific suicide statistic that used to be in the report.
    This came after Health Minister Andrew Little said on Tuesday he was comfortable with the report’s release

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300271515/greens-push-for-mental-health-statistics-to-be-required-by-law-as-prime-minister-appears-to-distance-herself-from-slimmeddown-report?rm=a

    yep, mental health is in shambles. Nevermind.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300266892/huge-growth-in-use-of-last-resort-seclusion-indicates-mental-health-system-in-crisis-and-in-worse-shape-than-when-labour-elected-in-2017?rm=a

    • Anker 3.1

      Sabine, I know a lot of the mental health field. Developing a new workforce is potentially a very long complicated task. The only country I am aware of who rolled out a mental health work force to serve people with mild to moderate mental health issues was the UK under Professor David Clark from Oxford University. In NZ there isn't wide spread support and training in CBT which is an evidenced based therapy. Various training institutes offer other models, most of which are lacking in any substantial evidence. So there is also an issue with training the trainers. People t teaching at these training institutes are deeply wedded to their model and can't be deployed to train in other more proven therapies. There is also the issue of providing culturally sensitive therapy.However the Min of Health doesn't appear to have adopted his model. Training therapists is a very complex issue. People have to have aptitude for the job

      Unfortunately I am aware. that there are many therapists practicing who aren't effective therapists.

      Good therapists practicing evidence based therapy can not just be magically pulled of a hat.

      • Sabine 3.1.1

        I agree with all that you said. But it has been four years, and in stead of just staying bad, it got worse, and hey our stats are now so whitewashed that effectively they are useless. But then, if you don't count it don/t exist. Right?

        • Incognito 3.1.1.1

          You may want to change the polarity of your filter; it may shock you.

          • Sabine 3.1.1.1.1

            What i should not care? Don't give a fuck about the homeless, the hungry, the shoeless kids with empty bellies in preschool, the beatings women get form violent men, the glue sniffing kids, the poor huddled unwashed masses?

            Sorry, but you know what? I am closer to those then i ever will be to the wellfed, wellhoused, well dressed doodas that you so cherish.

            My view is excellent. Its neither Red nor Blue, it ain't partisan, it ain't based on wishful thinking.

            And mental health under this government has gotten worse by their own admission. So don't take it too me, tell them to give you better news.

      • Gosman 3.1.2

        My wife is a Psychologist and has been involved with training Counselors. She is not impressed with how the training institutions are doing this. There is a huge risk of people being seen by people who are not properly trained to help them. This could make the situation worse not better.

        • Incognito 3.1.2.1

          My tongue is bleeding heavily …

          Was your wife trained in NZ? She must be old school.

          So, we should stop training these young and highly motivated bright people because they “could make the situation worse not better”?

          Let’s not do anything and stay inside because we may make a mistake. FFS!

          • Tricledrown 3.1.2.1.1

            Incognito US universities pushed a style of psychology that was Christian moralist calvinism not scientific ie Otago University longitudinal study.

            Looking at Gosmans comments and allegiance to reaganomics it all makes sense.

            • greywarshark 3.1.2.1.1.1

              Tricledrown – The USA university mention made me think of Ruth Dudley Edwards novel Murdering Americans (politically incorrect title for a book having that theme.) What they teach in the university/college at which she is visiting professor is far from her expectations.

              …Murdering Americans takes place in a solidly built, nice looking college in the abandoned steel town of New Paddington, Indiana. The college, Freeman State University, has deteriorated over the years from the principles on which it was founded, that is the teachings of math, science, and history, freedom of speech, diversity of thought and integration, and so on. Political Correctness (with a capital "PC") has become their crushing ideology. The only competition permitted by this college is who is the greater victim…

              …Baroness "Jack" Troutbeck, though quite busy being a member of the House of Lords and the Mistress of St. Martha's College in Cambridge, is always eager to face a new challenge should one present itself. To her surprise and delight she has been invited to America as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. She readily accepts, leaves London and flies off to America, and on to Freeman State University. The Baroness imagined the American colleges to be as she had viewed them in the movies of the fifties. What a shock to find them bastions of the liberal elite who have contempt for all things Western…

              She found that this college did not offer the standard courses in literature and science but instead an array of programs in political correctness. Because Christian Americans are at the root of the world's problems, students need only to study the backgrounds and cultures of blacks, gays and lesbians, Muslims, Jews, and other oppressed minorities to understand why all countries in the world hate America.

              During her stay, the Baroness is involved in four murders of which she has been inconveniently accused. She immediately calls for her friend in need, Robert Amiss, who flies to her side to help her solve the crimes…

              • Incognito

                Why do you use a novel to support allegations about ‘intellectual derailment’ at US universities??

                Please include a link next time, thanks.

            • Incognito 3.1.2.1.1.2

              What a load of nonsense! Firstly, it is a false dichotomy between “Christian moralist Calvinism” and science-based tertiary training and education, and a strawman. Secondly, which US universities and when did they supposedly push for a “style of psychology”, whatever that’s supposed to mean. Thirdly, I note you have not provided one shred of evidence for your assertions, not even a tiny little link. Lastly, the context is Aotearoa-New Zealand, not the USA.

              • greywarshark

                Sorry about the link incognito. I think that the novel gives an example of the way that some of the second or third-grade universities have changed their focus in tertiary education, particularly in the USA.

                And from the USA has come wokeness and an enhanced sensitivity to various groups making claims of unfairness, sometimes distantly connected to those who are actually battling huge inequality. The fact that it is fiction does not make it trivial. Matters taught in university in humanities and perhaps economics, may be more distorted than fiction I consider.

        • Tricledrown 3.1.2.2

          Gosman given your competency I wouldn't take your spin on any subject as truth.

      • Herodotus 3.2.1

        And where are the services that were promised and funded to cover tough stress over COVID , still waiting. Another announcement with no action to follow. Now there are real needs out there and there are many who think that an announcement from the throne solves these issues , guess what ?? It doesn’t and our queen bee needs to be told of this . But then again after an announcement out on it ministers go missing they have got there RV spot whilst nothing changes for the masses.

        • Incognito 3.2.1.1

          The whole mental health sector is under immense pressure and has been for years. In fact, the whole medical care sector is bending over backwards. They all need a long holiday, literally, before they burn out. Anybody with half a brain cell can see this.

      • Sabine 3.2.2

        that is nice, very nice, but of no help to anyone who needed mental health access and treatment yesterday and tomorrow. They are still shit outta luck.

        I am looking forward to seeing these same excuses when National is next in line to fucking it up. Its a bit like, yeah, we don't build no houses, but there is a record number of building consents.

  4. Sabine 4

    the quarantine free holidays are hopefully a thing of the past soon.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300289065/covid19-hundreds-in-melbourne-told-to-get-tested-after-unexpected-wastewater-detections

    The Australian Health Department has contacted hundreds of Victorians and urged them to undergo a coronavirus test after “strong and unexpected” Covid-19 fragments were detected in the state’s wastewater.

    Authorities say 246 people who were in Melbourne’s western and north-western suburbs were contacted on Thursday and told to get tested as a precaution.

    “This additional action is being taken due to the strength of the wastewater detection and because a known positive Covid-19 case, from flight QF778, has been in Victoria in the past 14 days,” the department said.

    • Gabby 5.1

      Hoodat?

      • greywarshark 5.1.1

        Go on Morrissey give us a clue so we can guess first before looking up the links, testing our shrewdness, during our busyness trying to keep up with this amorphous world we live in.

  5. Jimmy 6

    Australia have a low bar of entry for politicians.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/staffer-in-parliament-masturbating-video-files-police-report-over-revenge-porn-20210429-p57nnd.html

    “I hope that enough people will see that Nathan is a victim here. He was stupid, he should get a kick up the arse for what he did … but I think he deserves his job,” Mr Entsch said.

    Great that the guys boss believes he deserves his job back after doing that over a womans desk! Anyone can be an MP these days.

    • Sabine 6.1

      anyone can. Indeed.

      i find it interesting that this is not considered sexual assault.

    • Gabby 6.2

      One can draw ones own conclusions as to Mr Entsch's work habits.

      • Morrissey 6.2.1

        Mr Entsch's work habits…

        I'm sure I'm not the only person to notice that this gentleman's name is an anagram of "Stench".

    • McFlock 6.3

      So if I get this straight, the guy who filmed himself committing gross misconduct that got him fired after the video was aired is considering making a formal "revenge porn" complaint against his ex who had given the video to the media after their break-up.

      Worthy of a soap opera. No idea which way the legal system might go on it, but sheesh.

      • Incognito 6.3.1

        Another day in the office.

      • Jimmy 6.3.2

        Yep, that's how I understood it too. So "the perp" has become "the victim".

        But I thought the funniest part was his boss Mr Entsch saying he should have his job back!

        I wouldn't want to be a cleaner in that office!

        • McFlock 6.3.2.1

          Thing is, on the face of it, the pervert who got fired does have a point: an intimate visual recording shared in confidence was distributed for publication without his permission.

          BUT

          there is also the public interest in revealing that footage, given the guy's boss is obviously ok with such behaviour in the workplace

          BUT public interest might not be a defense under the Aussie law, and how long did the other guy wait to send it to the media? Was it at the time, or did he really just do it as revenge for being dumped, rather than serving the public interest?

          BUT I'm assuming the footage wasn't published unblurred, so does that count as intimate recording if the intimate bits are blurred out?

          And other buts. Damned if I would be able to cut through that legal gordian knot.

          As for pretty much everyone except the person whose desk was defiled and, as you say, the cleaner… yuck.

          • Gabby 6.3.2.1.1

            No reason they can't both be prosecuted.

            • McFlock 6.3.2.1.1.1

              Not sure the [literal] wanker did anything illegal as such.

              Definitely deserved to lose his job though.

              But yeah – very much a case of "throw everything at the courts and let them sort it out".

  6. greywarshark 7

    We have to watch and be wary of cults as well as gangs, and also the pseudo churches and charities that slide in to the tax-reduction gap offered to so-called worthy entities. This tax exemption strategy should be wiped, and replaced with applications for tax reduction on specific projects supplying sufficient Samaritan-like aid to the needy which is supervised. That is to try and prevent the institutional nasties that we have a Commission for at present.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441479/ex-exclusive-brethren-accuse-church-of-tearing-families-apart-there-are-some-pretty-nasty-stories
    …Wellington man Peter H… is starting life again at the age of 52…

    "It's not true to say they 'wish those who leave all the best': They tell you 'you will fall apart, suffer financially, won't keep faith, your health will fail, you won't have relationships'..
    "You're not allowed to think for yourself. One saying in there is from the leadership: 'You do the doing, we'll do the thinking'."

    Investigative journalist Nicky Hager has uncovered widespread use of private investigators by senior Brethren against ex-members in New Zealand.
    "If we as a society can't protect people in that very vulnerable state, escape from something like a cult where their lives were being controlled and then they find themselves still being harassed, if we can't protect them, then something is really wrong."

    This is the latest on the long-running, really eternal, story of grievances and sadness resulting from the dictatorship of the Exclusive Brethren (has reverted to Plymouth Brethren I have read. Bad faith is inherent in the beliefs and practices of this cult). The authorities seem to find it difficult to show pastoral care for the citizens in such coercive groups, even from a business and taxation POV.

    • Adrian 7.1

      You can get between the Brethren and their God, but God help you if you get between the Brethren and their money.

    • Tricledrown 7.2

      [deleted entire comment because of potentially harmful content]

      [I’m deeply uncomfortable with your allegations about EB/PB and the inferences you make about connections between them and other groupings with political parties without one piece of supporting evidence!

      Given that have shown repeatedly ignoring Moderation notes in the past, I have deleted your whole comment and have passed it on to other Moderators who have much better understanding of the possible legal implications of your seemingly baseless accusations.

      If you can back up all your assertions AND if the other Moderators deem it harmless enough, I will restore your comment.

      Please acknowledge that you have read and understood this Moderation note at your earliest convenience, thanks – Incognito]

  7. greywarshark 8

    edit
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/441390/new-zealand-donates-1m-as-india-covid-19-deaths-top-200-000

    I agree with helping India as we can, perhaps some supplies to specific points as well as some money towards UN help. And careful rehoming of NZs, and families split, what about them especially where there are children? We have a large number of Indian people resident here now living, working, making their lives with us, and we must have cognisance of their needs and do what we can being concerned and reasonable, which doesn’t mean we can do everything that is wanted.

    Our governments have not resisted the forces of the free market and open borders and cheaper goods made elsewhere. They chose to run down this country's internal economy and conditions in order to let foreign money (called investment) flood in. But that attitude has come back and bitten us in the bum. So we are bums, admit it, and attempt to do some good now it is needed, but without throwing away the good we have managed to retain and conserve here.

    Also let us help Paprua New Guinea – they are beside themselves over there according to reports. And it seems, literally, anyone who can do good is trying to be in two places at once.

    29/4 at 6.02 am – https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/programmes/pacific-waves/audio/2018793344/png-doctors-say-covid-19-outbreak-getting-worse

    29/4 at 4.23pm – https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/441445/we-don-t-have-any-grasp-covid-19-crisis-pushes-png-hospitals-to-the-brink |Jamie Tahana
    Doctors in Papua New Guinea say the coronavirus crisis is only getting worse as some hospitals shut their doors to patients and others struggle without supplies as basic as gloves.

    Health officials and doctors interviewed by RNZ Pacific have described a health system teetering on the brink of collapse and a country that has no real grasp of just how widespread the virus really is.
    Officially, the country has recorded 10,915 cases of Covid-19 and 107 deaths, according to government figures released on Wednesday night.

    This in March – https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/2018789058/papua-new-guinea-battling-tb-crisis-amid-covid-19-pandemic

    So Papua New Guinea – PNG has a TB outbreak as well. I think we need to airlift supplies to these people. Fly in, drop off, refuel and back. Be in constant touch and advocate for them as well from the PTB and authorities, could even see what Australia is doing and co-ordinate with them keeping our aid separate to minimise spread of anything between us.

    • Treetop 8.1

      Nothing new for PNG being under prepared. I heard a doctor say the other day that most day to day medical supplies run out. Covid was always going to impact on unprepared populations and large populations and the poorest in the population.

      In NZ we create a bubble and wait for the impact. I have previously said that an airport is a hot spot for transmission.

  8. Sabine 9

    fuck.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/124993291/covid19-red-zone-traveller-who-breached-brisbane-airport-green-zone-tests-positive

    One of the red zone travellers from Papua New Guinea who was allowed into Brisbane Airport’s green zone for two hours has tested positive.

    The person had mixed with passengers travelling on three flights to New Zealand under the trans-Tasman bubble arrangement.

    The positive result was returned on Friday and a serology test was underway. Queensland Health's Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has declared the international terminal a venue of concern.

    “Anyone who was in the terminal between 9.45am and midday on Thursday, 29 April 2021, should monitor their symptoms and get tested immediately if they feel unwell,” she said.

    • Treetop 9.1

      Not if but when the community spread is detected. Have Scooby-Doo and Ardern really considered the viability of a bubble. I have and everyday since it began.

  9. Byd0nz 10

    TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concerns on Thursday about a parade that took place in Kiev to celebrate the creation of SS Galicia Division, calling on the Ukrainian government to condemn the glorification of Nazi collaborators.

    On Wednesday, Ukrainian nationalists held the first march in the center of Kiev to commemorate the anniversary of the foundation of the SS division during the Second World War. Previously, such parades were held in the city of Lviv.

    Now, I'm no fan of Israel, but I wonder if Blinken will address these concerns when he visits there next week, or will he support the SS Parade?

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    7 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    9 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    21 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Funding hole for tax cuts growing by the day
    The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Luxon’s brave climate change promise
    The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles  and that ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    19 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
    This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti.  Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T02:11:38+00:00