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.
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 ?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I actually like Sauerkraut but your Teutonic temperament spoils it. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. I highly recommend chocolate fondue.
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.
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.
Adrian so a shortage of 80,000 dwellings is going to be solved by no one buying houses.
Because of the demand house construction permits have reached 15,000 in the last 1/4 2020 . The under supply has made it profitable for developers to build more houses ,to fix the under supply this level of construction needs to be maintained for at least 6 years.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In an incredibly powerful piece in the Guardian that also lays bare the poverty of so much of the prose of journalism these days Arundhati Roy says the number of dead in India could be 30 times the official figure:
"…Where shall we look for solace? For science? Shall we cling to numbers? How many dead? How many recovered? How many infected? When will the peak come? On 27 April, the report was 323,144 new cases, 2,771 deaths. The precision is somewhat reassuring. Except – how do we know? Tests are hard to come by, even in Delhi. The number of Covid-protocol funerals from graveyards and crematoriums in small towns and cities suggest a death toll up to 30 times higher than the official count. Doctors who are working outside the metropolitan areas can tell you how it is…
So upwards of 25-30,000 a day – a massacre of the poor.
For what it is worth, my wife knows a doctor who spent decades in India working for aid programs and who only returned last year and she is hearing the same sort of thing.
honestly if you are of the praying kind, pray for India.
We have known this guy for 4 years, thought him how to pronounce Maori names so engineers would be send to the correct location and yesterday listening him, honestly i just sat there and cried.
Hopelessness, despair, and so so tired. that poor kid.
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Are you serious, there appears to have been zero awareness of what had occurred until the video was posted and you want that treated as a criminal offence?
i don't know, have a bloke stand in front of your table to ejaculate all over it should be considered at least a 'biological' attack, you know should be treated like we would treat pissing and pooping in public. Unless of course men have so little control over their darker urges that spontaniously whipping it out to burn one is considered normal.
Under the legislation, individuals could face civil penalties of up to AU$105,000 and corporations of up to AU$525,000 if they do not remove an image when requested to by the eSafety commissioner.
Obscene Exposure / Sexual Exposure is considered a public order offence and is punishable under s19 of the Summary Offences Act 1966 (Vic). You may be, or may have already been, charged with Obscene Exposure under the Act. Section 19 states that “A person must not wilfully and obscenely expose the genital area of his or her body in, or within the view of, a public place”. The provision also imposes a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment.
What the prosecution must prove
In order to convict you, the prosecution must demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that you:
· Wilfully and obscenely exposed your genital area, and
· Did so in, or within the view of, a public place.
Well i think he could get around 2 years and maybe a few fines. Well he should get. and while we are at, we should add a charge for the idiocy of fiming such abhorrent behaviour. But i am no lawyer.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
[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]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
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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!!
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 ?
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.
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.
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.
Being on the Opposition bench is worse than being a lame possum caught in the headlights on a RONS.
Audrey Young and the NZ Herald want to make us feel good about this Government? How Machiavellian of them.
That’s comedy gold
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.
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.
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.
Belgium chocolate is the best; Swiss chocolate has got too many holes in it and makes me hear Alphorns and yodelling.
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.
I actually like Sauerkraut but your Teutonic temperament spoils it. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. I highly recommend chocolate fondue.
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.
Whittakers Chocolate. We can be proud of that!!
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.
Adrian so a shortage of 80,000 dwellings is going to be solved by no one buying houses.
Because of the demand house construction permits have reached 15,000 in the last 1/4 2020 . The under supply has made it profitable for developers to build more houses ,to fix the under supply this level of construction needs to be maintained for at least 6 years.
So where are these people going to live.
In a ditch or in a motel under the guise of emergency housing?
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/podcast-the-detail/page/our-construction-crisis
@ Herodotus, Audrey didnt "include extra things like housing policies & Maori wards" See 1.2
"doesn't include extra things like housing policies & Maori wards"
https://twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1387912277932666880
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.
+1
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.
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!
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'.
It's about time we rated journalists – not many would reach the towering heights of a 3/10.
We’ve already done that, kinda.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018793371/we-ve-got-trust-issues-with-news
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.
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.
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.
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.
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/
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.
In an incredibly powerful piece in the Guardian that also lays bare the poverty of so much of the prose of journalism these days Arundhati Roy says the number of dead in India could be 30 times the official figure:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe
"…Where shall we look for solace? For science? Shall we cling to numbers? How many dead? How many recovered? How many infected? When will the peak come? On 27 April, the report was 323,144 new cases, 2,771 deaths. The precision is somewhat reassuring. Except – how do we know? Tests are hard to come by, even in Delhi. The number of Covid-protocol funerals from graveyards and crematoriums in small towns and cities suggest a death toll up to 30 times higher than the official count. Doctors who are working outside the metropolitan areas can tell you how it is…
So upwards of 25-30,000 a day – a massacre of the poor.
For what it is worth, my wife knows a doctor who spent decades in India working for aid programs and who only returned last year and she is hearing the same sort of thing.
honestly if you are of the praying kind, pray for India.
We have known this guy for 4 years, thought him how to pronounce Maori names so engineers would be send to the correct location and yesterday listening him, honestly i just sat there and cried.
Hopelessness, despair, and so so tired. that poor kid.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/covid-19-coronavirus-democracy-in-india-under-microscope-as-hundreds-of-anti-government-accounts-censored/5WRF3F4DOP3NWFWCLNSJCIAKZQ/
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
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?
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
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.
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?
You may want to change the polarity of your filter; it may shock you.
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.
minus to plus
the people's poet
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.
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!
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.
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…
Why do you use a novel to support allegations about ‘intellectual derailment’ at US universities??
Please include a link next time, thanks.
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.
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.
Gosman given your competency I wouldn't take your spin on any subject as truth.
You love lapping up what the media feed you.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/124843528/number-of-students-studying-mental-health-course-doubles-in-taranaki
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.
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.
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.
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
Yesterday's Deranged Ranting
This fellow is not interested in arguing his case, just in shutting people down.
https://markdoran.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/johnson-real.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0EZ2TuX0AI_vH1?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0IuZs7WQAIQL-9?format=png&name=small
Hoodat?
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.
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.
anyone can. Indeed.
i find it interesting that this is not considered sexual assault.
Are you serious, there appears to have been zero awareness of what had occurred until the video was posted and you want that treated as a criminal offence?
i don't know, have a bloke stand in front of your table to ejaculate all over it should be considered at least a 'biological' attack, you know should be treated like we would treat pissing and pooping in public. Unless of course men have so little control over their darker urges that spontaniously whipping it out to burn one is considered normal.
Revenge Porn is already a criminal act.
yep, they did pass some law to make that illegal https://www.zdnet.com/article/australia-passes-revenge-porn-legislation/
Public urinating and defecation :
you can get fined for this in OZ. https://www.criminaldefencelawyers.com.au/blog/woman-fined-for-offensive-conduct-after-defecating-in-public/
indecent exposure
https://www.criminalsolicitorsmelbourne.com.au/?what_we_do=obscene-exposure-lawyers-melbourne-indecent-exposure#:~:text=Section%2019%20states%20that%20%E2%80%9CA,penalty%20of%202%20years%20imprisonment.
What the prosecution must prove
In order to convict you, the prosecution must demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that you:
· Wilfully and obscenely exposed your genital area, and
· Did so in, or within the view of, a public place.
Well i think he could get around 2 years and maybe a few fines. Well he should get. and while we are at, we should add a charge for the idiocy of fiming such abhorrent behaviour. But i am no lawyer.
We should push for a prosecution of Paula Radcliffe at the same time?
And I would suggest MPs offices are not actually public spaces.
What she do? Did she ejaculate over someones desk? Then yeah, she should also be prosecuted.
She won the London Marathon 2005, but doing so involved an unscheduled and very public toilet stop.
One can draw ones own conclusions as to Mr Entsch's work habits.
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".
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.
Another day in the office.
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!
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.
No reason they can't both be prosecuted.
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".
Bit of a sticky wicket, what!
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.
You can get between the Brethren and their God, but God help you if you get between the Brethren and their money.
Adrian
Much the same thing.
[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]
That fits with what i have read Tricledrown. Agree with you.
See my Moderation note @ 1:27 pm.
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.
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.
fuck.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/124993291/covid19-red-zone-traveller-who-breached-brisbane-airport-green-zone-tests-positive
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.
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?
The Ukraine is weak Jerry.