Sadly, the numbers in quarantine just keep rising as Kiwis meander and dawdle home some 90 days after we went into lockdown, and even longer since we were warned it was time to come home.
It was way back on March 18 when Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said, "If you can get home – come home now".
I think those that are still returning are taking the mickey and putting all our sacrifices at risk. New Zealanders have had plenty of time to get their backsides home if that was their intention.
We have been more than accommodating and generous. I believe now is the time to totally shut the border to everyone – returning Kiwis included.
Just for three months.
Where do I start? It's illegal for a kickoff, for a second his transparent little 'just for three months' arse cover is an arbitrary nonsense with no justification whatsoever.
It's also deeply ignorant; there are over 1m kiwis living overseas. Many still retain family and business connections in NZ, many effectively spend their income earned overseas back in NZ at some point. Most will have gained skills and experience that they could never have attained by staying home; it's certainly true in my own case. Most plan to return home at some time in the future.
As for his bullshit argument that we should have come home already, it overlooks the obvious point that if 1m kiwis had all returned before the March 24 cutoff the country could never have coped, and certainly COVID19 would have slipped through en-mass. Far better we return at a manageable rate over a period of the next year or so.
But the decision to return is rarely as clear cut as he pretends it it. In our case we've been caught between circumstances which mean that we lose out if I return, or if I don't. In normal circumstances right now I'd be back in NZ looking after important family and personal matters, but if I did, I would not be able to return to Australia as they are not allowing Kiwis to enter on the usual SCV444 unless they have been resident in Australia for more than 10 years, which I'm just shy of. That would have other bad consequences right now.
Not to mention the two weeks in quarantine at both ends. (Which are of course vital to do properly, but a real consideration nonetheless.)
There will be tens of thousands of people in similar situations, caught between commitments overseas and back home, and no easy way to manage both at the same time. For us the decision has been to sit tight in Brisbane for the time being, but it's not one we took lightly. Even if compared to many people my problem is a pretty small one, each morning I wake up it's the first thing I worry about.
Over time it will all sort itself out, but idiots like Garner beating up click bait like this is irksome and irresponsible. We all have enough uncertainty in our lives right now without this crap added to the pile.
Duncan Garner seems to write in the same manner he thinks and speaks, with supreme confidence in his utterings and without regard for context or nuance.
Any rational person reading that article, will find many holes in his argument, and will discount it.
(Didn't realise you were in Brisbane, hope you and your family are well there. I would assume that there are many in your position of not having a clear choice or options available.)
Yeah the "three months" jarred me too, what does that even mean? Why 3 months? Just nonsense. Has any country in the world ever stopped its own citizens entering their own country? What an idiot.
I'm the idiot who invested in a small business here late last year. Having reached the age where one's CV automatically goes into the 'round universal filing unit', we put put a lump of cash into an opportunity here, with the long term intention of bringing it back to NZ if it went well.
Globally there are millions of people with similar stories, all of them complicated, messy and unique to their circumstances. COVID 19 has pulled the rug out from the assumption of freedom of travel that was part of our lives. We aren't complaining about that, we understand the ground has shifted for everyone and we have to take our chances along with everyone else. But there will be kiwis who are going to have to return, decisions they made three months ago to stay overseas may not always work out for any number of reasons.
What I would advocate for is a more stringent process of return, including a booking system that required two tests before you get on the plane, and controlled the rate at which people returned to ensure the system at the NZ end was never overwhelmed.
I am enormously proud of what NZ has achieved in controlling this demon virus, and I'd doing anything necessary to ensure if I came home I did it as safely as possible. I think most ex-pats would feel much the same.
Your situation and age gives breadth to your innate wisdom Redlogix. I think what you say about handling the borders is right.
But also while NZs should be able to return, we also have a moral obligation to people who have built their lives around being in NZ and devoted themselves to working here as good people contributing to the country. So can you work those into at least a quota to start with if they can tick a number of criteria, or can make a very special case? And then there are the legal partners of NZs who would be immigrants hoping to become residents alongside their husband/wife.
It needs to be viewed like some illnesses are, which are hard to diagnose. There is a list of affects and if you have over 6 say, then you are regarded as having the…..syndrome; that applies to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, for example. So immigrants with ticks in particular boxes rise to the top. That will give them guidance on what to expect. Immigration seems to have been affected by Power Agency Syndrome that performs to government targets without let or hindrance in their manner, free to make decisions and eye Ministers with weary detachment. Or so it seems to this citizen.
You are good on the planning, engineering side. It would be good if we in NZ could tap into those skills and attributes.
You touch on an important aspect of COVID 19. It's got far more in common with a disease like polio than influenza in that while many people will recover, it looks like there will be many long term health consequences for them.
And for nations this could have huge impacts on their health systems.
But otherwise thanks for the encouragement; just lately it feels like every decision we make with the best information we have available at the time, comes undone for reasons we could never have guessed. And that will be the case for so many others as well.
And something Garner in his blithering bombast has absolutely NFC about.
I too think a booking system and controlling the rate of return would be a good idea. As it seems at the moment airlines can just decide to fly here with passengers (American airlines are returning in Oct) to heck with how much quarantine we have available.
I was interested in RL saying that Australia have a border ban on some visa's unless you have been permanently resident for 10 years. We have permanent residents in name only (PRINO?) who haven't lived here for years but as far as I know we have no filter on the border so we only let in those who have been actually resident and working here. ( habitually resident)
We also have dual passports holders (think Peter Thiel and some of the chinese and american billionaires) who are citizens in name only (CINO). Their only interest in NZ is what they can grab out of it or as a bolthole and frankly public opinion would probably be quite happy leaving them well down the queue but I don't know how you do that.
I'd also suspend then kill the business investment category . We give you a passport and the ability to buy any distressed assets for sale? We must be nuts – and it certainly won't help asset values to drop to a level that are affordable by those within the local economy – as the bolt hole premium is removed. Economists have also gone back and found that it doesn't do a thing for our economy. Most put the money on a deposit and then take it out of the country when the time is up. Where are the factories ??? non existent
I'd also chop issuing any further visas under the high wage cutoff. If you are here and working that's fine but we will get a good number of the well qualified back ( they are already turning up in my 'hood) who may simply want their kids to live in a covid free environment.
As to those who have been here for a number of years on a succession of limited or short term visas. or who were employer sponsored. Don't vote for the Nacts. We had this problem in 2008 when companies dodged training people in favour of employing temporary visa workers some of whom had been here for 5-8 years. These have been crack cocaine for employers in keeping wages down and when employer sponsored are the source of a number of scams and outright fraud. I have personal sympathy for a lot of them and they need a nuanced response but they are in a scarce job market and if employer sponsored have jumped any queue. Short term visa's and youth visas 1-2 years should probably expect to go – with perhaps a a sliding scale that matches those with permanent residence
I expect most people think that partners get the same consideration as the primary holder.
The politics of this position the same day that Muller say’s that border restrictions are “untenable” are a bit bizarre.
Either Garner is a complete loose cannon muppet who isn’t influenced by anyone bar himself, or there’s some very contradictory messaging coming out of the National Party.
The problem for National is that their instinctive desire to ensure both public safety AND a return to business as usual are in direct conflict with each other.
Neither ambition is not necessarily a bad thing, but right now COVID means they cannot have both at the same time. Until they're willing to have an honest conversation on this, expect more talking out of both sides of the mouth.
The world is now 6 months into the pandemic and what do virologists, infectious disease, immunologist and respiratory doctors know to treat and prevent the pandemic?
Muller cannot have it both ways (closed border and open border for business) because that is the way it is, to think otherwise is being in denial. Someone needs to tell him that the pandemic has not yet reached its peak.
I think the Nats are positioning them selves to advocate taxpayer paid but employer privatised and supervised quarantine. Preferably down on the farm milking them cows…
There are still people who have been unable to find flights back to New Zealand. There will also be others who need to stay overseas for current commitments but will want to travel back in the next few months or years. Does Garner think that the thousands who have returned in the last few weeks could have found transport between the advisory to return and our own lockdown?
There is so much to think about when entering and exiting the country. When it comes to going for a short trip overseas obtaining health insurance for Covid-19 is unlikely and catching the virus is likely. If the purpose of a trip is to relax this is going to be a stretch.
I totally get that for political reasons the Greens proposal for a wealth tax is dead on arrival.
Labour head and PM Jacinda Ardern signalled yesterday that her party is not interested in it. This stands to Wayne's point yesterday that tax policy will remain in the hands of the majority coalition partner, both now and in the future.
Also of course the Tax Working Group already considered a wealth tax and opposed it.
And Ardern also came out last year saying that she would never, ever support a capital gains tax as long as she was an MP.
So it's not like they were unclear on the matter.
But the effect of Ardern’s clarification simply reassures the 9% of New Zealand voters who turn on a dime, and the effect of Green’s policy throws a bone to the socialist left within the Greens to keep them above 5%.
But it does ask: what is Labour's tax policy going to be – other than exactly what we have right now?
At some point the state is going to have to start earning more money. They could at least reverse National's tax cuts from the previous administration. It's not enough to save the health of the country. You have to start making it less unequal – and your primary instrument to do that with is tax policy.
It also asks: do the Greens get what policy areas they are really be allowed to effect inside a future coalition?
It's an intelligent, asset class neutral policy that delivers what proponents of a Capital Gains or a Wealth Tax actually want. But like the UBI idea, the CCT originates from outside the gated political narrative … so no-one will touch it.
We got the Alliance to adopt it in the early '90s – I attended some of those meetings and voted for it. Your confidence that Labour will go for it seems misplaced, however, due to ongoing neoliberal hegemony. They would only adopt it if they wanted to campaign on the basis of being genuinely progressive. I doubt there's anyone left alive who can recall Labour being that honest…
Yes. TOP actually stumbled on a magic combination, a UBI, CCT and FTT (a bunch of TLA's if there ever was) … but it was not just the merit of each one that fascinated me, but how they all worked together to deliver more than the sum of the parts.
I was never so much interested in the party for it's own sake, but in it's interesting policies. The Greens and Labour have a lot of objectives in common with TOP, and often come very close to nailing it (the Green's GMI and Labour's now dead CGT are good examples).
Dennis is right though, the political trauma of the 80’s seems to have permanently disabled Labour’s ability to try anything new. It’s not so much they’re locked into neo-liberalism, it’s they deeply fear anyone who looks like another Douglas with fancy ideas.
I don't think TOP's tax proposals are really what proponents of CGTs or wealth taxes actually want. Advocates of CGTs want to exclude family homes whereas TOP wants to bring them into the tax net. Wealth tax advocates want to tax wealth (however it is defined) whereas TOP is happy to see only the return on wealth taxed, but subject to the proviso that, where that return is deemed inadequate, it will impute an adequate return and tax that.
Your claim that the state must at some point earn more money is still uterly false.
The reserve bank still issues all the tickets (on behalf of the government). In the same way the trains have temporarily stopped collecting tickets. Does that in any way threaten their ability to issue tickets? Obviously not.
Capacity, yes meaningless (there is no impact despite rhetoric). Impacts on the real economy on the other hand are obviously worth discussing.
Btw I completely agree here the goegraphy of New Zealand is different to other places. But then not without reason I have described your rhetorical style as stream on non-sequeiter.
I know you don't make links in your thinking, so I'll help you out.
My first mention was of New Zealand, and an implication that there might be limits at some point to tax income and public debt. Treasury thinking from June last year was that there are three areas to consider.
First, the debt sustainability approach. This considers the level of debt above which the government would simply be insolvent. That is because the interest expenses on the debt would be so large that the government’s primary fiscal balance (that is, revenue less non-interest expenditure) could not be sufficient.
Second, the market access perspective. This considers the level of debt such that beyond it, creditors are no longer willing to lend on reasonable terms. Market confidence is lost, and governments cannot roll-over debt.
The third approach is to consider the level of public debt beyond which there are likely to be adverse consequences for living standards and economic welfare.
I have a little suspicion that their longer term thinking hasn't yet caught up with events, other than roll out another budget.
My second mention was that of the United States, and they have plenty of commentary on the effects of excessive public debt here from the Congressional Budget Office.
And my third one was Newfoundland, which caught my eye recently. Though brewing for a while, Covid-19 and the oil crisis makes it all a bit tight, so the Federal government has had to step in:
Unfortunately this is a highly slippery area of economic theory and government economic policy.
The simple story is that it does make a difference if your state operates its own central bank which issues its currency, floats its currency and almost exclusively issues debt in its own currency (like New Zealand, but not all countries, do). In this case the government can always make payments by marking up bank accounts inside the countries inter-bank accounts which its central bank operates. There are of course many ways that these funds are put into this set of accounts, the key point is that the central bank is a monopoly issuer of the currency and is in fact the only place this form of money originated. Obviously and as I described, if you issue the tickets you can't run out just because you didn't clip any recently. These are just fundamental institutional realities, but understanding these clears up a lot of confusion.
By contrast you raised an example of the geographic area called Newfoundland. Now obviously as a Canadian province it doesn't issue its own currency via its own central bank. Unsurprisingly (once you understand the institutions) it needs to negotiate help with its limited budget with the overarching federal government of Canada. The fact that Newfoundland on the other hand is a similar size and population to New Zealand is not really relevant here, what is important is that it remains on good terms with the institutions which facilitate its spending, at least to the extent it doesn't raise that in local taxation (and things like mining revenues, etc…).
A similar (but subtly different) relationship exists between Eurozone states and the ECB (and the parts of the EU bureaucracy which govern the ECB) in order to facilitate Eurozone states spending. This is public enough its possible to observe the current declarations that Eurozone states are allowed to spend as much as they need without limits (at least in the short term) to get through the Covid-19 crisis. At other times the relationship has been different with states told to implement reforms to target <60% debt to GDP ratios or <3% of GDP government deficits. It should be clear enough from the history of such events who holds the purse strings and that this is different between Eurozone countries and non-Eurozone countries.
Another similar (but subtly different) relationship exists between the Auckland council and the government of New Zealand in that some of the funding for large scale projects is provided by the central government. If the Auckland council wants to make serious progress on its light rail proposal its going to require a funding proposal to traverse cabinet.
What should be clear is that these relationships is that one of the sides has a budget constraint and must negotiate with the other to overcome it, while the other side isn't negotiating with any party to facilitate its spending, it just decides broadly (and in practice subject to its forecasts being any good) what to spend and that then goes ahead.
Now onto the treasury discussion.
First its worth pointing out how treasury considers its role.
"The level and the exact specification of the debt anchor has changed quite frequently. These changes reflect different economic circumstances and policy preferences and each successive government has set its own fiscal strategy, creating strong political commitment to the overarching framework. " – Makhlouf
"I want to use this lecture to lay out how the Treasury has thought about prudent debt and the assumptions and judgments behind our advice. These are rightfully matters for public debate and should not been seen as merely technocratic questions." – Makhlouf
What should be clear here is that Treasury sees the decision of an appropriate budget and public debt levels to be a decision at the discretion of the government and legitimately influenced by public debate. In fact it would seem to be treasuries own advice that the government first consider its policy objectives and secondarily consider how these influence its budget and long term what it should set its public debt targets to be. Where as what you seem to be suggesting is that the Green parties proposed policy would shift the Labour parties pre-conceived long term budget targets (because tax changes will be politically unmanageable) and so should be discarded. Clearly by treasury standards it would be more than reasonable for the implementation of the Green's policy proposals to influence the long term debt targets the government sets itself anyway.
Now moving onto the slippery slope.
"The result of debt reaching the levels envisaged by either the debt sustainability or the market access approach, is a debt crisis. From there, governments face three unpalatable choices. They can default on their debt. They can make drastic adjustments to spending and taxation to reduce debt. Or, in states with sovereign monetary policy and debt issued in their own currency, they can stimulate inflation to devalue their debt. The effect of any of these policies would be devastating for living standards." – Makhlouf
So we can start with the worst case scenario. It turns out as a country New Zealand has recently entered it with the implementation from this year of QE. Supposedly this will devalue the debt by stimulating inflation (and additionally driving interest rates up with a likely flight from public debt). However as it turns out not to be an effective way of stimulating inflation, or any of the other harms cited. Well New Zealand has just started so we might consider countries which have been doing this for a while then. The US, UK and among other countries have been doing this for about 10 years or more with none of the harms occurring. Probably the worst case is Japan with 20+ years of this policy. In fact virtually the opposite effects are evident than the effects predicted. Now I don't know how you feel about a theory which gives you completely the wrong conclusions, but I don't have much use for them.
Drilling down a bit into how these conclusions are drawn its actually fairly clear why the modeled conclusions are next to useless. This follows from the construction which wants to draw conclusions about long term debt levels and so only considers projections of the economy to equilibrium (long run) states. You should note that an equilibrium state is by definition one where the economy is fully employed so the rather heroic assumption is made that the economy automatically corrects itself. One of the most destructive consequences of the equilibrium modeling assumption is that such a state is not one an economy can actually reach (equilibrium is a state the economy supposedly settles in in the absence of any external events, like new technology, actually basically anything can be an external event) so it becomes impossible to validate your modeling assumptions. But why did I raise this?
"This highlights that the fundamental challenge is one of scarcity. It is a basic point, but one worth reiterating. Increases in debt cannot be used to fund new spending without trade-offs in the rest of the economy. I emphasise this, in part, because of another strain of thinking gaining increasing prominence in the United States: Modern Monetary Theory.
The central proposition of its advocates is that a state that can print its own money cannot go bankrupt and therefore debt should not be a constraint on public spending. The first part of that statement is, in a technical sense, true. But the second part is missing an important part of the story: productive investment requires the ‘real resources’ of the economy, workers, machines, land. Money creation or new government bond issues do not automatically create real resources. When the economy is near capacity, as New Zealand’s is today, more of these resources being used by government means less being used by the private sector in the short term, and more inflationary pressure across the whole economy. If infrastructure investment is of high quality, it may increase the supply potential of the economy and increase overall productivity but only in the longer term. There is no free lunch: we will always face trade-offs." – Makhlouf
So here we can see how the overall argument influences things and it just leads towards shutting down the debate. In fact the MMT literature is very focused on an economies real resource constraints because this is central to its own model for inflation. That includes the claim that increased spending on an economy which is fully utilized may be a cause of inflation. But we are not considering a New Zealand economy which is highly utilized at present and even when this Treasury presentation was made its highly debatable that the government was facing an inflationary spending constraint (e.g that there was a visible up-tick in the New Zealand inflation rate).
Anyway as I said its a slippery area and seems to have drawn you into some miss-leading claims that New Zealand is likely to face significant public spending constraints while the country is simultaneously (and quite obviously) operating with an elevated unemployment rate and below recent capacity utilization rates. On the other hand I do believe Treasury has a better feel for which way the wind is presently blowing and so won't be releasing anything similar to this discussion for a year or maybe ten.
It's not particular to QE (though this can be part of the accounting gymnastics via which a central bank ends up buying its own governments debt). Virtually all government spending involves a transfer of funds into the account of a government payees bank (and ultimately a payees bank account) and this happens in the accounts administered by the central bank.
Once you understand this its pretty obvious that "all tax levels are meaningless to the government's capacity" to spend. The impacts of that spending on the economy are what should be considered.
Actually what I said describes virtually all New Zealand government payments. That applies if there is some QE in the mix or not or even if there is no debt matching going on (e.g the RBNZ runs a zero interest rate more permanently).
After reading you should understand why excluding any of supermarkets, pharmacies or fuel sellers from essential lockdown services could easily have lead to massive inflation in New Zealand (regardless of whatever was going on with monetary or fiscal policy).
If now is not the time for using some of the enormous political capital that Labour (read: Ardern) has accumulated and campaign on a progressive and transformative policy platform then when is the time?
Is Labour going to be a chassis whilst blaming a minor and junior coalition partner for being a handbrake on all of its ‘aspirations’. When does a “nuclear moment” change into a “nuclear decade”?
Although there will be more crises in future, I won’t want to vote for a party (read: leader) that is good in crisis management and communication only!
Be imaginative, be bold, there is no try, there is no ”let’s do this”. Do, or do not, and be damned in the history books.
What do you think, Ad, is this ‘advanced baiting’?
Labour is the party of great intentions. Its MPs spend their years in opposition claiming that National is destroying our country through its neo-liberal policies. Then in government Labour do nothing transformational and continue BAU.
Labour will never be more popular than they are now. Now is the time to reform our economy and end poverty. If Labour do not adopt the Green policy, or at least a version of it, then what is the point of supporting them?
and the effect of Green’s policy throws a bone to the socialist left within the Greens to keep them above 5%.
Or are they hoping to attract Left-leaning, Green-friendly Labour voters … that slice of the electorate that – despite identifying most strongly with Labour – continually voted Green throughout the Key years, swung back to Labour in the midst of Jacindamania in 2017 and then further pulled back to Labour by the Govt's handling of COVID-19.
I think our chums in the Metro Woke Hipster / Ageing Hippie Party are hoping to make inroads into Left-Labour … the Left-Greens already being onboard.
Probably a correct diagnosis of the intent of the Metro Woke Hipster segment. On behalf of the Ageing Hippie faction, I'll just do an 🙄. Oh for a little sophisticated political strategising to be injected into that mix, for a change. Okay, maybe the election after next…
LOL … I've always considered you a leading spiritual force in the Ageing Hippie faction of the Green Party, Dennis … indeed longtime organiser of the dominant Grateful Dead tendency within that faction, clashing as you so often have with your strategically outwitted Loving Spoonful & JeffersonAirplane rivals. Dreadful bitter business … and yet in its own way groovy.
I was a LS fan back in '66 but not since. The airplane has stood the test of time, and I still play a selection of favourites by them at least a few times each year. Blows Against the Empire in which they relabelled themselves starship, was an all-time classic – not just the music, but their political stance as well. By the mid-'70s they had degenerated into commercial crap.
I've never actually self-identified as deadhead, but GD music has been good to me since '72 (up until then too weird to my Keith Richards taste). But Quicksilver & Moody Blues were always the best hippie bands…
"If now is not the time for using some of the enormous political capital that Labour (read: Ardern) has accumulated and campaign on a progressive and transformative policy platform then when is the time?"
Exactery. And so far, despite some of the positive stuff Labour have achieved, there are stuff things that've caused me to jump ship to the Greens after a lifetime.
3 Tier dirty filthy bennies; the shameful treatment of some immigrants; kicking the can down the road on so many things (PSB included); public service reform.
edit
I know you feel strongly OwT but please save your diatribes for later after Labour is back in, though positively backing Greens. NZs are backsliding animals like Toad) and you are wise Badger who can see things pretty clearly and in a way that leads to sensible action. (I love the BBC audio version of Wind in the Willows with all those great actors.)
Badger knew of a secret entrance to Toad Hall, information entrusted to him by Toad's father, not to be disclosed to Toad till the time of necessity. Now is not yet that time. So don't go hard, the poor leftie-type things are under all sorts of pressure in Parliament (Toad Hall infested with weasels).
Remember that Roger Douglas went around giving lectures at good fees to those who wanted to sweep pesky considerations for the ordinary people aside – Tony Blair also. And they have won a huge following.
If our dormice have been able to wake up at Alice's table, it's getting us a part of a magical, clever fable. Keep the story going, it might turn out to have a happy ending. Hey, there goes the White Rabbit muttering about time, and being late!
(For people who believe in magical endings and need both a laugh and a fresh perspective apart from the chaotic grim fairy tales abounding, see the parallels with our polity and Dodson's treacle pit – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dormouse)
I tempted to go with another 'diatribe' explaining the reasons for feeling so "strongly" but I'll refrain.
Suffice to say they relate to things such as:
– One's NZ-born toddler God/Guru daughter having to watch her mother being sexually abused by an over-stayer of more than 5 years despite INZ being given the exact location of his whereabouts. Reported more than once by more than one.
– Receiving a selfie of JA and a couple of Chardonnay-sipping ladies (one closely related) at the Martinborough post election shindig at the exact time I was seated with an octogenarian hearing about what happened during partiton, and regularly taking him to hospital after he stopped eating. The reason being the indebtedness and potential loss of land as a result of his family members going through NZ's wonderful tertiary education system and series of ticket clippers at the time.
– It might even be the way I witnessed INZ 'swoops' by people quite happy to have immigrants referred to as "Scum".
(There's a lot more. And it isn't just down to what Helen Clark referred to as a "lack of capacity" in our public service these days.
A real diatribe would take several pages but I think you know what I mean.
Saying there there by me doesn't help. But convince the self-centred to do something right. try, huh i have given up with most – won't be infomed or care. but get labour in or there is no chance, as the wealthy want to live like kings and bugger responsibility to anyone or thing.
"If now is not the time for using some of the enormous political capital that Labour (read: Ardern) has accumulated and campaign on a progressive and transformative policy platform then when is the time?"
With the rate of change increasing over the past couple of decades, H1's incremental pragmatism (or pragmatic incrementalism), steady as she goes approach that worked in the past isn't going to cut it for much longer, and nor are politicians who are happy to just keep kicking the can down the road.
By the way – couldn't agree with you more:
"But also while NZs should be able to return, we also have a moral obligation to people who have built their lives around being in NZ and devoted themselves to working here as good people contributing to the country."
especially since we've turned citizenship itself into just another tradeable commodity – some as you know (Peter Thiel for example) just love collecting passports and those 'rights' that go with them, while not bothering with all those supposed 'responsibilities' we're expected to observe
I’m glad the Prime Minister refused to hand over any sacrificial victims, either by condemning the two women, who were after all grieving for a parent who had just died; or by naming and sacking the hapless civil servant who gave them permission to travel without a Covid-19 test.
Yes, that's the bit. She held her nerve, and if she had sacked people or went public with those women what would the difference be today, nothing. Great decision, excellent leadership.
If Labour stabilises over 50% in the next poll, that view will seem validated. If it continues to be an ebb tide for Labour, will you concede that it's wrong?
Do I really need to explain this to you? A week is a long time in politics (ask Chris Penk, Simon Bridges, or Paula Bennett (next week), for example). Do you really think that the next political poll result will be determined by a single factor of your choice/preference of a media beat up of a few weeks back? If so, you’re reading way too much into polls – go and ask Swordfish – and I have a bridge to sell you. Why on Earth would you ask another commenter to concede when the issue is that they hold an opinion that’s different from yours? Isn’t that what you meant with this:
And yes, to anticipate those who will try to correct me, I do concede that the real/imaginal boundary is a matter of subjective opinion. [my italics]
Well, that just raises the question of other factors that can reasonably be expected to ebb Labour's tide further. None come to mind. I agree that you make a reasonable point about this – but my assumption is only reasonably categorised as naive if there are other such suitable contenders, right? Perhaps you can provide a list of those??
Lack of imagination. Plus who knows what other ‘factors’ will appear over the next little while? Can you predict the future?
but my assumption is only reasonably categorised as naive if there are other such suitable contenders, right?
Nope, wrong premise; see above.
Perhaps you can provide a list of those??
Sorry, can’t do; even though I’ve stopped playing Lotto after the announcement of the Greens’ tax policy I still will not share with you the lucky numbers for the next draws.
We had a government before that did whatever would increase polling – sometimes it worked, but in the end the public decided that ethics and morality did actually have a place in politics, and that polls are not good determinants for the advisability of actions on single issues.
If journalists want to be respected by the public, they must check their facts. The last thing we need is a Crosby-Textor style of divisive, dishonest politics in this election, in the middle of the ravages of a global pandemic. The country deserves better than that.
"Journalists" claim that they screamed pointed to the errors on the border in order to help make NZ safer. And that is nonsensensical.
Obviously anyone corrects a mistake after becoming aware of it. Dunno why you are advocating journalists are wrong to alert people to those mistakes. If the govt were able to rectify the mistakes without the help of journalists, you might have a point. But we live in a reality in which govts usually deny mistakes, right?
I don't disagree with anything the dame wrote, but her glaring omission in failing to acknowledge the role of the health minister indicates she was just trying to do spin to help Labour. Nothing to do with fairness – or social justice!
But journalists didn't just alert to mistakes. They shouted over and over and use National's "shambles" over and over for over a week, long after corrections were made.
I wonder about your reference to the Health Minister. Seems likely that you are doing the Devil's work forMr Woodhouse. Wonder why?
It seems that Woodhouse has a valid basis to call for Clark's resignation – like I wrote yesterday, even someone with average intelligence can get it right 50% of the time. Fairness is all about giving credit where it's due.
In regard to your first paragraph, I think that's fair and I agree with your critique. Some journos do seem to have an anti-govt agenda that warps their judgment.
Don't be silly. It's all about ministerial responsibility and accountability. Look it up on the govt website if you haven't considered that yet. Self-harm.
Minsterial responsibility was never cut and dried. It's fairly easy when the Minister misleads Parliament, or is caught out in some obvious malfeasance.
But operational problems within their Ministry were always less obvious, clearly you can't sack the minister every time some public servant makes any mistake, none of them would last until lunchtime. So there has to be some threshold of mistake that justifies a sacking.
That threshold would ask questions like, is this a systemic problem, has there been a history of this, could have it been reasonably foreseen and has there been an opportunity to fix it, was the mistake reckless or ill-advised?
Now I understand exactly how these quarantine mistakes happened I am satisfied none of these criteria these apply.
"Individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention. Members of cabinet are individually responsible in three main ways:
they are accountable for decisions that they take in relation to their portfolio responsibilities
they are responsible for their own professional and personal conduct
they are responsible for decisions and actions (and the consequences that follow) of individuals and organisations for which they have ministerial responsibility, whether or not they were party to or knew of those actions. This is known as vicarious ministerial responsibility.
Breaches of ministerial responsibility
The Cabinet manual provides some guidance, but ultimately it is for the prime minister to decide, in a broader political as well as a constitutional context, whether a breach of individual ministerial responsibility has occurred and, if so, what the consequences should be.
Grounds for resignation or dismissal include misuse or abuse of the financial supports available to a minister, and misleading the prime minister, one’s cabinet or parliamentary colleagues, or Parliament itself. On some occasions ministers who are the subject of an accusation will stand aside until matters have been investigated. If no serious fault on the part of the minister is established, their cabinet position will be restored.
Vicarious responsibility
Vicarious responsibility is the one aspect of individual ministerial responsibility where the consequences of a breach are most debated. In one view, even where a minister is unaware of an action taken by a subordinate, he or she should resign. The contrary view, held by successive New Zealand governments, is that rectification should be placed ahead of resignation."
Rectification should be placed ahead of resignation.
It's for the PM to decide. She decided for rectification. All the rest is commentary. Time to move on from desiring to examine the entrails which is some people's sole purpose- not for reasons of state but for reasons of political revenge. Motivation is important in this discussion as it informs our choice in the matter.
That's well-reasoned. Just leaves aside the issue of damage to Labour & the PM's reputation for good judgment. Time will tell on that. I do agree that public perceptions of responsibility, accountability & natural justice are irrelevant to how govt operates.
David Clark is an idiot, long before Covid 19. Does no one here remember the string of lies he told about Middlemore way back in 2018/2019, which after many months he admitted his 'errors' (lies or ignorance morelike).
Just do a Google search 'David Clark Middlemore' for the full story.
He is an embarrassment to the government. And why on earth do we now have Megan Woods, the Minister of Housing, fronting Covid 19? Surely that is Clarks job, or just a tacit admission that he is not up to the job. Sack the idiot.
It is my understanding that covid-19 is still largely a health issue – while organisation of quarantine and managed isolation at the border include some health issues, the task mostly requires coordination with transport, airports, planning for accommodation, administration of the process, logistics relating to security and specialist supplies, and communication to travellers. She is not being asked to make or approve Health decisions, but to facilitate implementation of those decisions.
Peter CHCH how come that Health has been the very big winner/most successful of the port folios under the coalition govt if Clark is such bad news. I have outlined now a number of times what has been achieved in health under his watch.
If you list for us all the things that David Clark did along the line and let us know what % of things he got right we can decide whether any credit is due.
Maybe, in itemising all those things he did you could also weight them according to significance. Not significance as determined by public reaction to them and headlines but significance in terms of handling the Covid-19 to best cope with the situation and protect us.
I know you were an early adopter of Chris Trotter's argument that the government had to dump the Health Minister to save itself (this is the same person who argued that Labour was wrong to dump Little for Ardern in 2017).
And you also believe the fallacy that the media alerted the government to failings that saved us all (the media's own spin of their gotcha grab a headline style).
But to adopt the Pete GeorgeJoffre of Verdun approach to defending a position is, while courageous at the risk of heavy casualties, such as perspective and truth.
Think it through.
The government was under pressure to move to Level 1. The DG of Health would have advised to wait another week and (so they could in time) bring in testing to minimise the greater risk applying at Level 1. Cabinet decided to bring it in on June 9 with a days notice before there was capacity to test, and for all we know Clark took Bloomfield's position in Cabinet but was outvoted.
The PM herself has said those two work together and that there was collective responsibility – the whole of Cabinet made the choice.
Re Joffre of Verdun, I did scan the wiki but relevance failed to become apparent. Not sure why you would jump to the conclusion that media reportage of quarantine failures failed to alert the govt. Calling it a fallacy obviously disregards public opinion.
And I rarely adopt Trotter's opinion on anything. I've spent a lifetime figuring stuff out before anyone else, and in this instance I had already got there independently when I reported his view.
As regards your later reasoning, it disregards the relevance of ministerial responsibility but the countering argument you mention has been well made elsewhere already and I accept the PM's advocacy of collective fudging on the basis of realpolilik. 🙄 There is indeed room for diverse views on this situation so I will try to refrain from reiteration of my view!
It is certainly a fallacy to presume a government only learns about something when it can be read by the public in the media or when media ask them questions.
Minister’s often advocate based on their ministry advice but are then outvoted and become part of collective responsibility … cabinet papers when released in x weeks are going to show advice (I would expect that this would have been one rationale for another week at level 2) that bringing in a testing regime would take longer than 1 day (June 8 to June 9).
From memory (not that I was there at the time), the battle of Verdun cost the French 450,000 dead and the Germans 420,000 dead. One shell landed for something smaller than every square metre on that battlefield. It was war specifically to wear down the enemy by attrition. Let's kill more of yours than you kill of ours.
I have walked some of that battlefield and viewed a walled-up part of the French fort Douaumont where after capture by the Germans a 410mm shell penetrated the roof and instantly killed some 700 men.
I was then, and am still sorry, that truth is not the only casualty of war.
As an adolescent I read All Quiet on the Western Front and it spooked the hell out of me. Made me anti-war. Later, in '64, hearing Bob Dylan sing Masters of War got me reinforced on that:
And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I will follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
'Til I’m sure that you’re dead
I read the same book, and Archibald Baxter's "We Shall Not Cease" and heard the song "Universal Soldier" by Donovan. "He's here and there, and you and me, and brother can't you see, This is not the way we put an end to war."
Even more incredible is that if we look at the so-called conservative 1960s governments of Keith Holyoake in New Zealand and John F. Kennedy in the US, the wealthy were paying personal tax rates over 50 per cent.
So when we look at the Greens' ‘'far Left’' wealth tax, we have to remember that it is a slightly Left-of-centre party big on the environment and with the Right-wing ‘'realist'’ faction of the party firmly in control.
I feel Love, thank you for posting that. Yes, I think people have been forgetting to be kind to each other. Fear is behind Duncan Garner's plea for the border to be closed to returnees. Also some do not want to share the safe places on the lifeboat we have become.
Most are anxious that our systems could be overwhelmed, but others are still wanting even more people allowed in. So those groups try to justify their position about our borders with cries of "Shut them" or "Open them"
Muller is saying we "won't survive without open borders, our GDP will be wrecked." The emphasis is for returnees who bring cash along with the virus. He does not say how much it would cost the country if cases slipped through with the students or immigrant workers, instead the short term gains are lauded.
Muller and c/o would create jobs with private groups doing the necessary isolation work. There is no mention of training or oversight though, the very things they are rumbling about now. "But they would do it better" Really?? So much unjustified hubris.
Over a million New Zealanders are learning working or living overseas. Those who are working for affected entities, those afraid of changing health circumstances, and those needing to complete contracts or sell possessions are not able to "jump the first flight out". Some had return flights which were postponed or cancelled,
The returnees have come from frightening situations, and often have had their lives and plans wrecked, we need to be ready for thousands of these covid refugees.
Muller has raised an important dilemma. Our border restrictions are simultaneously too weak and too strong. Too weak, because recent issues suggest that getting them 100% perfectly secure from COVID-19 intrusions is difficult. Too strong, because they harm the economy by stopping people coming here, and by putting those who do in a business-unfriendly two-week quarantine.
How do we square the circle and reconcile these contradictions – something that is 100% safe and also lets the economy roar into action? I’d humbly put forward a suggestion that I think cracks it:
We should have completely unrestricted borders for homeless people who don’t actually exist. Totally safe – because they don’t exist. But great for the economy too – imagine all the people who could be employed trying to find them. As Michael ('Aristotle') Woodhouse would say – "no evidence of existence is not proof of non-existence" – so it’s a never-ending task. Plenty of opportunity for thrusting entrepreneurs in this scenario. I will be putting this idea forward to Todd for his masterful consideration.
Business unfriendly? I think you mean, massive business opportunity. A captive market fergawdsake. Do they want government to gut and fillet the fish for them as well?
Todd Mullers chant that borders must open any other option is untenable is stupid we don't have the capacity in our health system if it got out of control.
Looking at the Canterbury rebuild and repairs Nationals handling of this disaster now being exposed that the $550 million repairs of dodgy repairs is set to rise into $billions of dollars as most of the repairs were substandard on par with the leaky buildings $ 35 billion cost.
National cut health spending by 20% over 9 years leaving our health system in a very bad condition unable to cope with a small outbreak.
Luckily our borders were shut ,but on every measure our hospital system has been run down.Buildings in a very poor state, massive shortages of experienced professionals massive shortages of nursing staff.filthy dirty hospitals cleaned by poorly trained minimum wage casual workers who don't care about cleaning wards properly.
Muller if you want to open the border's put your money where your mouth is $ billions need to be spent on just the buildings let alone staffing to cope with a worst case scenario.
This would take at least 4 years of a massive increase in health funding to cope with any moderate outbreak.
Our countries ability to cope is at the bottom of the OECD.
Leaving aside the confused calendar (tomorrow *is* next month), it reads like a defensive child, responding to a telling-off. Short and sullen.
It is a statement from the opposition on policy at the border, without any mention of National's policy at the border. Who is Muller aiming this at? Probably his own caucus ("look, I'm doing something"). But really it just comes across as more digging.
As the wannabe next PM, why doesn’t he front up with his answers? We need to know so that New Zealanders have confidence in electing the right people to progressively and safely open the border and grow the economy.
Muller fails to understand that talking an economy down is a self fulfilling prophecy.His diatribe that the only answer for the economy of NZ inc, is the opening of the borders seems to be at odds with both public opinion,and economic statistics (and more a message from his sponsers).
To enable a recovery,people need confidence ie stability for decision making such as spending or investment,not an enhanced set of risks.
Cordon sanitaire for NZ is working,relaxation of controls overseas has seen that too early gets recurrence,and return to lockdown.
to have confidence we need to ask the right questions.
The question of predicting the disease trajectory is less important than questions related to what’s necessary to 1) cause an exponential decrease rather than increase in new infections and 2) cause this decrease to occur as quickly as possible.
Certainly some strange goings on in National re the border, Garner's piece at 1 above, and Kirk Hope's (Business NZ) rant, then this. Something's cooking
I imagine Matthew Hooton is behind this current nonsense. It is exactly how he operated when he was part of the RNZ Monday morning political bash with Kathryn Ryan. He was forever making absurd claims without a skerrick of evidence to back them up. Even Ryan found some of them sufficiently unpalatable to give him a scolding – not that he ever took any notice.
You're now in the blacklist, which means that your comments won't show in the front end until you respond to moderation. Please read my comment above, follow the link and respond, thanks. It's not a big deal, you just have to pay attention to moderation and respond and then things will get sorted out.
The relevant ideology of the partisans seems to be that one must attempt to de-platform opponents at all times (rather than working together for the common good). Using that logic, they would have opposed the Churchill/Stalin summits that produced the Allied victory over Hitler in WWII.
So when you get spokespeople for local islamic folk wanting to understand the motives of the shooter, they dig in and resist. Why give him a platform? What they don't say to those folk is "What part of white supremacy do you not already understand?" Implying that someone is a slow learner is too non-pc for the de-platformers…
I'd say let him have his platform but not in person on video as that will readily be misused. Let his words be reported in the third person, so that his explanations for his actions are known, but without the rhetoric and the inflammatory content.
Let it be a dispassionate reporting, as an historian would write commentary upon a Mussolini speech, or a psychologist would review in case notes of a serial killer, or a linguistics expert might examine in a study of the language of hate.
Documents available to those who have a proper interest in the matter, restricted upon sufficient grounds.
But then I'm not a victim or related to his victims, nor am I of the religion or ethnic group related to his victims. I might think differently, then.
One thing I'm sure we would agree on, is that we don't want the words and views, especially a video, of a hateful and evil killer to cause more harm in our community.
I like that approach. Get a professor of sociology to provide an expert analysis and use that to inform those who seek an explanation for the massacre. See if the result satisfies their interest – or do they want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth instead? Anyway, probably best to restrict access to the victims, eh?
Your final sentence is possible to be read to read two diametrically opposed things. 🙂 Whichever you meant, I do believe that the victims should be consulted, and whatever evidence of the killer's motives, explanations and justifications be treated with as much care as is possible.
At the the time I accepted the censorship was probably necessary in the immediate aftermath of the event, but I recall saying that waiting for a Royal Commission to answer the obvious questions was a reasonable compromise.
I still think this is necessary. I don't need to hear from the perpetrator directly, but there remain open questions about his travels, connections and motives that should be made public. The fact that the authorities seem deeply reluctant to be transparent on this only sharpens my doubts.
The left would have no problem with it. You think a government with a top rate of tax at 33 cents, not CGT, no wealth tax, no estate tax is left wing. Why?
There is no reason to think a openly right wing government would rush this out with full disclosure.
MH to JS; "we're friends now", at the close of the interview. So farmers using estimates for the purpose of scaremongering encounter the facts from James, and lose. Good to hear that the people in local communities involved in forestry are keen to make the shift to native forests instead of pine.
They may just have been trying to help the fish, or give kayakers a decent course to practice on, or a number of really thoughtful reasons. I wonder what their defence will be? Perhaps they expect a huge amount of rain and don't want a collapse as elsewhere recently in the world. Don&#Can’t remember just where but I read about dams collapsing FTTT, it's not rare enough to be sanguine about it.
It's not fair on the poor to take away their incentive to better themselves by selling cheaply, when you can nurture their growth to selfimprovement by screwing them into the ground and kicking them in the face. It's what jesus would want.
You sound sort of muddy yourself Gabby perhaps with imprints of hobnail boots in your cheeks. But leave Jesus out of that, his name gets besmirched by the smirking tv evangelists, personality cults and prosperity churches without having it popped in to every discourse on a Godwin basis.
We run a fuel card with discount off the national price and the provider sends notification of any price movement 3 or 4 days before. Got one for a price increase of 3-4c applied yesterday, but nothing yet for tomorrow or Monday.
Bit cynical making a fuss about it in the media when the price has already gone up.
The country's pork sector says it is facing "severe staff shortages" with skilled migrant workers unable to enter the country and those already here in danger of not having their visas renewed.
The industry is calling on the Government to urgently review its policies around who it lets into the country in the wake of COVID-19.
Pigs are considered as important hosts or “mixing vessels” for the generation of pandemic influenza viruses. Systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is essential for early warning and preparedness for the next potential pandemic. Here, we report on an influenza virus surveillance of pigs from 2011 to 2018 in China, and identify a recently emerged genotype 4 (G4) reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus, which bears 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) and triple-reassortant (TR)-derived internal genes and has been predominant in swine populations since 2016. Similar to pdm/09 virus, G4 viruses bind to human-type receptors, produce much higher progeny virus in human airway epithelial cells, and show efficient infectivity and aerosol transmission in ferrets. Moreover, low antigenic cross-reactivity of human influenza vaccine strains with G4 reassortant EA H1N1 virus indicates that preexisting population immunity does not provide protection against G4 viruses. Further serological surveillance among occupational exposure population showed that 10.4% (35/338) of swine workers were positive for G4 EA H1N1 virus, especially for participants 18 y to 35 y old, who had 20.5%
… new flu strain that has been identified in China is similar to 2009 swine flu, but with some new changes.
It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say. The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak. While it is not an immediate problem, they say, it has "all the hallmarks" of being highly adapted to infect humans and needs close monitoring.
Now now. Being mean to China like that creates a very real danger some left-winger will call you racist. It's what they do. Remember you don't have to actually be racist to be racist, you just have to trigger the paranoia by means of creating a subjective impression in their minds. Even commenting on the weather could do it. The world is an extremely dangerous place! 🥶
If feeding anti-biotics to pigs, allowing live markets with animals in cages cheek by jowl does not cause us a hospital crisis with super bugs there is the pandemic, next is the matter of hormones into American livestock and the promotion of the burden of that and Big Pharma in FTA around the world …
Not again. The main dairy farm job site shows some 720 jobs with around 1900 looking for work(okay that 1900 needs to be culled for the ineligible) and yes it is pigs but there must be some transferable skills and we have a lot of unemployed neets that are being trained. So why are the media giving this a beat up?
The owners need to get onto plan B
– updating and brushing up their employer CV
-making sure they have the right skills, wages and background conditions including further training and skills updating being offered to employees.
-having references that show they don't take drugs or indulge in sackable offences towards their employees like bullying and sexism.
-using their local networks to score an employee
-doing sufficent training and forward planning to put resilience into the industry so the issue does not reoccur.
Stop whinging and seeking special treatment as the market will provide.
Are you aware that todays report highlighted the reason for the fuck up. It was an IT mistake of not putting the NIH number on one of the two forms required so they couldn't be cross referenced. If every Minister resigned after an IT fuck up everybody in the country would have had a turn at being a Minister.
Typical IT bullshit, over-promising and under delivering. the industry runs on more bullshit than Fonterra.
Question for past/current 'leading lights' in the National party: If 'your team' had been in charge during this pandemic, and your efforts had contributed to NZ's relatively good Covid-19 health outcomes (~1,530 cases; 22 deaths; at level 1 for weeks with no evidence of community transmission), would you be relieved and pleased? That's how I feel.
The reality is our Wai is life so conservating the use of Wai is the way of the future so we don't use it all and leave nothing for our wildlifes environment.
Having a sestanable fishery is of utmost importance for our future generations.
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Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
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. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
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 ...
An Australian Strategic Policy Institute report says Pillar Two could raise the industry to state of the art capability - or "crush" it "under the weight of the globe's biggest player". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marlene Longbottom, Associate Professor, Indigenous Education & Research Centre, James Cook University ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the violence experienced by First Nations people in encounters with the Australian carceral system. It also contains references to ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
The New Zealand comedy legend takes us through her life in television, including the time she hugged Elton John and the unshakeable legacy of a girl named Lyn. In 1981, Ginette McDonald stood on the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre and directly addressed Queen Elizabeth II. It was a ...
An essay by Lily Duval from the just-released anthology Otherhood: Essays on being childless, childfree and child adjacent.I was 22 when my friend Alice gave birth in the living room of our pokey Addington flat. She laboured in the blow-up pool for hours. Garish fish swam along the inflated ...
Ella Borrie on the best books about motherhood she’s come across so far. Over the past few years I’ve been drawn to books about motherhood. I’m fascinated by the joys and horrors of becoming a parent. The question of children also feels more pressing than it used to. It’s like ...
Out of gift ideas for mum? You can’t go wrong with a bottle of toilet cleaner and a new squeegee. Emily Writes is the writer and editor of Emily Writes Weekly. This week marks five years since I published a post on The Spinoff about Mother’s Day marketing titled ‘A ...
My husband is posted overseas for 12 months and I’m armed with an expensive, newfangled vibrator. Will I miss him? The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.A few days after my husband leaves, a new sex toy arrives at the front door. Nestled ...
Jaimie Baird’s new book Here Today Gone Tomorrow is a record of four decades of graffiti and street art in Wellington, told through more than 1,200 photographs. He spoke with Joel MacManus about what inspired the book. How did you first get interested in photographing street art? I remember ...
Editor Madeleine Chapman looks back at a busy week where food of all political leanings dominated. Sometimes you’re just going about your week thinking you’ve got a good handle on what might be coming as far as news topics and then someone (usually a politician) says something so ridiculous that ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
In a week of cold rain and frost, the climate in courtroom four upstairs at the Invercargill courthouse was simmering with restrained indignation. At times it felt like the famous Mexican standoff scene from Reservoir Dogs, or, as someone watching the proceedings described it, there was so much throwing of ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
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Duncan Garner advocating for something utterly illegal and morally wrong. No-one can have any confidence in his judgement.
Where do I start? It's illegal for a kickoff, for a second his transparent little 'just for three months' arse cover is an arbitrary nonsense with no justification whatsoever.
It's also deeply ignorant; there are over 1m kiwis living overseas. Many still retain family and business connections in NZ, many effectively spend their income earned overseas back in NZ at some point. Most will have gained skills and experience that they could never have attained by staying home; it's certainly true in my own case. Most plan to return home at some time in the future.
As for his bullshit argument that we should have come home already, it overlooks the obvious point that if 1m kiwis had all returned before the March 24 cutoff the country could never have coped, and certainly COVID19 would have slipped through en-mass. Far better we return at a manageable rate over a period of the next year or so.
But the decision to return is rarely as clear cut as he pretends it it. In our case we've been caught between circumstances which mean that we lose out if I return, or if I don't. In normal circumstances right now I'd be back in NZ looking after important family and personal matters, but if I did, I would not be able to return to Australia as they are not allowing Kiwis to enter on the usual SCV444 unless they have been resident in Australia for more than 10 years, which I'm just shy of. That would have other bad consequences right now.
Not to mention the two weeks in quarantine at both ends. (Which are of course vital to do properly, but a real consideration nonetheless.)
There will be tens of thousands of people in similar situations, caught between commitments overseas and back home, and no easy way to manage both at the same time. For us the decision has been to sit tight in Brisbane for the time being, but it's not one we took lightly. Even if compared to many people my problem is a pretty small one, each morning I wake up it's the first thing I worry about.
Over time it will all sort itself out, but idiots like Garner beating up click bait like this is irksome and irresponsible. We all have enough uncertainty in our lives right now without this crap added to the pile.
Duncan Garner seems to write in the same manner he thinks and speaks, with supreme confidence in his utterings and without regard for context or nuance.
Any rational person reading that article, will find many holes in his argument, and will discount it.
(Didn't realise you were in Brisbane, hope you and your family are well there. I would assume that there are many in your position of not having a clear choice or options available.)
Yeah the "three months" jarred me too, what does that even mean? Why 3 months? Just nonsense. Has any country in the world ever stopped its own citizens entering their own country? What an idiot.
I'm the idiot who invested in a small business here late last year. Having reached the age where one's CV automatically goes into the 'round universal filing unit', we put put a lump of cash into an opportunity here, with the long term intention of bringing it back to NZ if it went well.
Globally there are millions of people with similar stories, all of them complicated, messy and unique to their circumstances. COVID 19 has pulled the rug out from the assumption of freedom of travel that was part of our lives. We aren't complaining about that, we understand the ground has shifted for everyone and we have to take our chances along with everyone else. But there will be kiwis who are going to have to return, decisions they made three months ago to stay overseas may not always work out for any number of reasons.
What I would advocate for is a more stringent process of return, including a booking system that required two tests before you get on the plane, and controlled the rate at which people returned to ensure the system at the NZ end was never overwhelmed.
I am enormously proud of what NZ has achieved in controlling this demon virus, and I'd doing anything necessary to ensure if I came home I did it as safely as possible. I think most ex-pats would feel much the same.
Your situation and age gives breadth to your innate wisdom Redlogix. I think what you say about handling the borders is right.
But also while NZs should be able to return, we also have a moral obligation to people who have built their lives around being in NZ and devoted themselves to working here as good people contributing to the country. So can you work those into at least a quota to start with if they can tick a number of criteria, or can make a very special case? And then there are the legal partners of NZs who would be immigrants hoping to become residents alongside their husband/wife.
It needs to be viewed like some illnesses are, which are hard to diagnose. There is a list of affects and if you have over 6 say, then you are regarded as having the…..syndrome; that applies to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, for example. So immigrants with ticks in particular boxes rise to the top. That will give them guidance on what to expect. Immigration seems to have been affected by Power Agency Syndrome that performs to government targets without let or hindrance in their manner, free to make decisions and eye Ministers with weary detachment. Or so it seems to this citizen.
You are good on the planning, engineering side. It would be good if we in NZ could tap into those skills and attributes.
You touch on an important aspect of COVID 19. It's got far more in common with a disease like polio than influenza in that while many people will recover, it looks like there will be many long term health consequences for them.
And for nations this could have huge impacts on their health systems.
But otherwise thanks for the encouragement; just lately it feels like every decision we make with the best information we have available at the time, comes undone for reasons we could never have guessed. And that will be the case for so many others as well.
And something Garner in his blithering bombast has absolutely NFC about.
I too think a booking system and controlling the rate of return would be a good idea. As it seems at the moment airlines can just decide to fly here with passengers (American airlines are returning in Oct) to heck with how much quarantine we have available.
I was interested in RL saying that Australia have a border ban on some visa's unless you have been permanently resident for 10 years. We have permanent residents in name only (PRINO?) who haven't lived here for years but as far as I know we have no filter on the border so we only let in those who have been actually resident and working here. ( habitually resident)
We also have dual passports holders (think Peter Thiel and some of the chinese and american billionaires) who are citizens in name only (CINO). Their only interest in NZ is what they can grab out of it or as a bolthole and frankly public opinion would probably be quite happy leaving them well down the queue but I don't know how you do that.
I'd also suspend then kill the business investment category . We give you a passport and the ability to buy any distressed assets for sale? We must be nuts – and it certainly won't help asset values to drop to a level that are affordable by those within the local economy – as the bolt hole premium is removed. Economists have also gone back and found that it doesn't do a thing for our economy. Most put the money on a deposit and then take it out of the country when the time is up. Where are the factories ??? non existent
I'd also chop issuing any further visas under the high wage cutoff. If you are here and working that's fine but we will get a good number of the well qualified back ( they are already turning up in my 'hood) who may simply want their kids to live in a covid free environment.
As to those who have been here for a number of years on a succession of limited or short term visas. or who were employer sponsored. Don't vote for the Nacts. We had this problem in 2008 when companies dodged training people in favour of employing temporary visa workers some of whom had been here for 5-8 years. These have been crack cocaine for employers in keeping wages down and when employer sponsored are the source of a number of scams and outright fraud. I have personal sympathy for a lot of them and they need a nuanced response but they are in a scarce job market and if employer sponsored have jumped any queue. Short term visa's and youth visas 1-2 years should probably expect to go – with perhaps a a sliding scale that matches those with permanent residence
I expect most people think that partners get the same consideration as the primary holder.
Daleks exterminate hostile government agencies! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BsWzmq0OCY Seriously!
Or either the Daleks or they'll wipe us out eventually despite Spike Millgan's worst efforts. (Note: Has references to curry and Pakistani.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0n88tZQc4Q
Sorry I don't get the point there. I don't watch you tube vids – security setting.
Given the number of countries one can buy a drivers licence, I wouldn't be putting too much reliance on tests prior to boarding.
The politics of this position the same day that Muller say’s that border restrictions are “untenable” are a bit bizarre.
Either Garner is a complete loose cannon muppet who isn’t influenced by anyone bar himself, or there’s some very contradictory messaging coming out of the National Party.
The problem for National is that their instinctive desire to ensure both public safety AND a return to business as usual are in direct conflict with each other.
Neither ambition is not necessarily a bad thing, but right now COVID means they cannot have both at the same time. Until they're willing to have an honest conversation on this, expect more talking out of both sides of the mouth.
The world is now 6 months into the pandemic and what do virologists, infectious disease, immunologist and respiratory doctors know to treat and prevent the pandemic?
Muller cannot have it both ways (closed border and open border for business) because that is the way it is, to think otherwise is being in denial. Someone needs to tell him that the pandemic has not yet reached its peak.
I think the Nats are positioning them selves to advocate taxpayer paid but employer privatised and supervised quarantine. Preferably down on the farm milking them cows…
There are still people who have been unable to find flights back to New Zealand. There will also be others who need to stay overseas for current commitments but will want to travel back in the next few months or years. Does Garner think that the thousands who have returned in the last few weeks could have found transport between the advisory to return and our own lockdown?
There is so much to think about when entering and exiting the country. When it comes to going for a short trip overseas obtaining health insurance for Covid-19 is unlikely and catching the virus is likely. If the purpose of a trip is to relax this is going to be a stretch.
I totally get that for political reasons the Greens proposal for a wealth tax is dead on arrival.
Labour head and PM Jacinda Ardern signalled yesterday that her party is not interested in it. This stands to Wayne's point yesterday that tax policy will remain in the hands of the majority coalition partner, both now and in the future.
Also of course the Tax Working Group already considered a wealth tax and opposed it.
And Ardern also came out last year saying that she would never, ever support a capital gains tax as long as she was an MP.
So it's not like they were unclear on the matter.
But the effect of Ardern’s clarification simply reassures the 9% of New Zealand voters who turn on a dime, and the effect of Green’s policy throws a bone to the socialist left within the Greens to keep them above 5%.
But it does ask: what is Labour's tax policy going to be – other than exactly what we have right now?
At some point the state is going to have to start earning more money. They could at least reverse National's tax cuts from the previous administration. It's not enough to save the health of the country. You have to start making it less unequal – and your primary instrument to do that with is tax policy.
It also asks: do the Greens get what policy areas they are really be allowed to effect inside a future coalition?
what is Labour's tax policy going to be
Just to remind you that TOP put up the correct answer, the CCT.
It's an intelligent, asset class neutral policy that delivers what proponents of a Capital Gains or a Wealth Tax actually want. But like the UBI idea, the CCT originates from outside the gated political narrative … so no-one will touch it.
FTT
We got the Alliance to adopt it in the early '90s – I attended some of those meetings and voted for it. Your confidence that Labour will go for it seems misplaced, however, due to ongoing neoliberal hegemony. They would only adopt it if they wanted to campaign on the basis of being genuinely progressive. I doubt there's anyone left alive who can recall Labour being that honest…
Yes. TOP actually stumbled on a magic combination, a UBI, CCT and FTT (a bunch of TLA's if there ever was) … but it was not just the merit of each one that fascinated me, but how they all worked together to deliver more than the sum of the parts.
I was never so much interested in the party for it's own sake, but in it's interesting policies. The Greens and Labour have a lot of objectives in common with TOP, and often come very close to nailing it (the Green's GMI and Labour's now dead CGT are good examples).
Dennis is right though, the political trauma of the 80’s seems to have permanently disabled Labour’s ability to try anything new. It’s not so much they’re locked into neo-liberalism, it’s they deeply fear anyone who looks like another Douglas with fancy ideas.
I don't think TOP's tax proposals are really what proponents of CGTs or wealth taxes actually want. Advocates of CGTs want to exclude family homes whereas TOP wants to bring them into the tax net. Wealth tax advocates want to tax wealth (however it is defined) whereas TOP is happy to see only the return on wealth taxed, but subject to the proviso that, where that return is deemed inadequate, it will impute an adequate return and tax that.
Your claim that the state must at some point earn more money is still uterly false.
The reserve bank still issues all the tickets (on behalf of the government). In the same way the trains have temporarily stopped collecting tickets. Does that in any way threaten their ability to issue tickets? Obviously not.
So all tax levels are meaningless to the government's capacity?
We're not the US.
And luckily we're not Newfoundland either.
Capacity, yes meaningless (there is no impact despite rhetoric). Impacts on the real economy on the other hand are obviously worth discussing.
Btw I completely agree here the goegraphy of New Zealand is different to other places. But then not without reason I have described your rhetorical style as stream on non-sequeiter.
*geography
*stream of non-sequeiter
It's actually "non sequitur".
I know you don't make links in your thinking, so I'll help you out.
My first mention was of New Zealand, and an implication that there might be limits at some point to tax income and public debt. Treasury thinking from June last year was that there are three areas to consider.
First, the debt sustainability approach. This considers the level of debt above which the government would simply be insolvent. That is because the interest expenses on the debt would be so large that the government’s primary fiscal balance (that is, revenue less non-interest expenditure) could not be sufficient.
Second, the market access perspective. This considers the level of debt such that beyond it, creditors are no longer willing to lend on reasonable terms. Market confidence is lost, and governments cannot roll-over debt.
The third approach is to consider the level of public debt beyond which there are likely to be adverse consequences for living standards and economic welfare.
You can see the Treasury commentary on that here:
https://treasury.govt.nz/publications/speech/what-prudent-debt
I have a little suspicion that their longer term thinking hasn't yet caught up with events, other than roll out another budget.
My second mention was that of the United States, and they have plenty of commentary on the effects of excessive public debt here from the Congressional Budget Office.
http://www.crfb.org/blogs/cbo-consequences-growing-national-debt#:~:text=Higher%20interest%20payments%2C%20leading%20to,risk%20of%20a%20fiscal%20crisis
And my third one was Newfoundland, which caught my eye recently. Though brewing for a while, Covid-19 and the oil crisis makes it all a bit tight, so the Federal government has had to step in:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/economics/video/newfoundland-facing-unsustainable-debt-levels-amid-oil-crash-covid-19-premier~1934953
We're closer in size to Newfoundland than the United States, and we don't have a federal government to take care of us if this all gets worse.
Unfortunately this is a highly slippery area of economic theory and government economic policy.
The simple story is that it does make a difference if your state operates its own central bank which issues its currency, floats its currency and almost exclusively issues debt in its own currency (like New Zealand, but not all countries, do). In this case the government can always make payments by marking up bank accounts inside the countries inter-bank accounts which its central bank operates. There are of course many ways that these funds are put into this set of accounts, the key point is that the central bank is a monopoly issuer of the currency and is in fact the only place this form of money originated. Obviously and as I described, if you issue the tickets you can't run out just because you didn't clip any recently. These are just fundamental institutional realities, but understanding these clears up a lot of confusion.
By contrast you raised an example of the geographic area called Newfoundland. Now obviously as a Canadian province it doesn't issue its own currency via its own central bank. Unsurprisingly (once you understand the institutions) it needs to negotiate help with its limited budget with the overarching federal government of Canada. The fact that Newfoundland on the other hand is a similar size and population to New Zealand is not really relevant here, what is important is that it remains on good terms with the institutions which facilitate its spending, at least to the extent it doesn't raise that in local taxation (and things like mining revenues, etc…).
A similar (but subtly different) relationship exists between Eurozone states and the ECB (and the parts of the EU bureaucracy which govern the ECB) in order to facilitate Eurozone states spending. This is public enough its possible to observe the current declarations that Eurozone states are allowed to spend as much as they need without limits (at least in the short term) to get through the Covid-19 crisis. At other times the relationship has been different with states told to implement reforms to target <60% debt to GDP ratios or <3% of GDP government deficits. It should be clear enough from the history of such events who holds the purse strings and that this is different between Eurozone countries and non-Eurozone countries.
Another similar (but subtly different) relationship exists between the Auckland council and the government of New Zealand in that some of the funding for large scale projects is provided by the central government. If the Auckland council wants to make serious progress on its light rail proposal its going to require a funding proposal to traverse cabinet.
What should be clear is that these relationships is that one of the sides has a budget constraint and must negotiate with the other to overcome it, while the other side isn't negotiating with any party to facilitate its spending, it just decides broadly (and in practice subject to its forecasts being any good) what to spend and that then goes ahead.
Now onto the treasury discussion.
First its worth pointing out how treasury considers its role.
"The level and the exact specification of the debt anchor has changed quite frequently. These changes reflect different economic circumstances and policy preferences and each successive government has set its own fiscal strategy, creating strong political commitment to the overarching framework. " – Makhlouf
"I want to use this lecture to lay out how the Treasury has thought about prudent debt and the assumptions and judgments behind our advice. These are rightfully matters for public debate and should not been seen as merely technocratic questions." – Makhlouf
What should be clear here is that Treasury sees the decision of an appropriate budget and public debt levels to be a decision at the discretion of the government and legitimately influenced by public debate. In fact it would seem to be treasuries own advice that the government first consider its policy objectives and secondarily consider how these influence its budget and long term what it should set its public debt targets to be. Where as what you seem to be suggesting is that the Green parties proposed policy would shift the Labour parties pre-conceived long term budget targets (because tax changes will be politically unmanageable) and so should be discarded. Clearly by treasury standards it would be more than reasonable for the implementation of the Green's policy proposals to influence the long term debt targets the government sets itself anyway.
Now moving onto the slippery slope.
"The result of debt reaching the levels envisaged by either the debt sustainability or the market access approach, is a debt crisis. From there, governments face three unpalatable choices. They can default on their debt. They can make drastic adjustments to spending and taxation to reduce debt. Or, in states with sovereign monetary policy and debt issued in their own currency, they can stimulate inflation to devalue their debt. The effect of any of these policies would be devastating for living standards." – Makhlouf
So we can start with the worst case scenario. It turns out as a country New Zealand has recently entered it with the implementation from this year of QE. Supposedly this will devalue the debt by stimulating inflation (and additionally driving interest rates up with a likely flight from public debt). However as it turns out not to be an effective way of stimulating inflation, or any of the other harms cited. Well New Zealand has just started so we might consider countries which have been doing this for a while then. The US, UK and among other countries have been doing this for about 10 years or more with none of the harms occurring. Probably the worst case is Japan with 20+ years of this policy. In fact virtually the opposite effects are evident than the effects predicted. Now I don't know how you feel about a theory which gives you completely the wrong conclusions, but I don't have much use for them.
Drilling down a bit into how these conclusions are drawn its actually fairly clear why the modeled conclusions are next to useless. This follows from the construction which wants to draw conclusions about long term debt levels and so only considers projections of the economy to equilibrium (long run) states. You should note that an equilibrium state is by definition one where the economy is fully employed so the rather heroic assumption is made that the economy automatically corrects itself. One of the most destructive consequences of the equilibrium modeling assumption is that such a state is not one an economy can actually reach (equilibrium is a state the economy supposedly settles in in the absence of any external events, like new technology, actually basically anything can be an external event) so it becomes impossible to validate your modeling assumptions. But why did I raise this?
"This highlights that the fundamental challenge is one of scarcity. It is a basic point, but one worth reiterating. Increases in debt cannot be used to fund new spending without trade-offs in the rest of the economy. I emphasise this, in part, because of another strain of thinking gaining increasing prominence in the United States: Modern Monetary Theory.
The central proposition of its advocates is that a state that can print its own money cannot go bankrupt and therefore debt should not be a constraint on public spending. The first part of that statement is, in a technical sense, true. But the second part is missing an important part of the story: productive investment requires the ‘real resources’ of the economy, workers, machines, land. Money creation or new government bond issues do not automatically create real resources. When the economy is near capacity, as New Zealand’s is today, more of these resources being used by government means less being used by the private sector in the short term, and more inflationary pressure across the whole economy. If infrastructure investment is of high quality, it may increase the supply potential of the economy and increase overall productivity but only in the longer term. There is no free lunch: we will always face trade-offs." – Makhlouf
So here we can see how the overall argument influences things and it just leads towards shutting down the debate. In fact the MMT literature is very focused on an economies real resource constraints because this is central to its own model for inflation. That includes the claim that increased spending on an economy which is fully utilized may be a cause of inflation. But we are not considering a New Zealand economy which is highly utilized at present and even when this Treasury presentation was made its highly debatable that the government was facing an inflationary spending constraint (e.g that there was a visible up-tick in the New Zealand inflation rate).
Anyway as I said its a slippery area and seems to have drawn you into some miss-leading claims that New Zealand is likely to face significant public spending constraints while the country is simultaneously (and quite obviously) operating with an elevated unemployment rate and below recent capacity utilization rates. On the other hand I do believe Treasury has a better feel for which way the wind is presently blowing and so won't be releasing anything similar to this discussion for a year or maybe ten.
Presuming Nic means QE, he has a point. Why would the govt rely on real money when the Reserve Bank is using imaginary money to keep us afloat??
And yes, to anticipate those who will try to correct me, I do concede that the real/imaginal boundary is a matter of subjective opinion.
When marking exams and you cannot read the answer that’s written down you have to fail it 😉
QE only works in times of low inflation and if your country has enough productive capacity.
It's not particular to QE (though this can be part of the accounting gymnastics via which a central bank ends up buying its own governments debt). Virtually all government spending involves a transfer of funds into the account of a government payees bank (and ultimately a payees bank account) and this happens in the accounts administered by the central bank.
Once you understand this its pretty obvious that "all tax levels are meaningless to the government's capacity" to spend. The impacts of that spending on the economy are what should be considered.
Zimbabwe Nic
Can you please reply to this moderation? Your comments are still in premod, and I’m close to shunting them to Spam until you respond.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-06-2020/#comment-1724514
Actually what I said describes virtually all New Zealand government payments. That applies if there is some QE in the mix or not or even if there is no debt matching going on (e.g the RBNZ runs a zero interest rate more permanently).
On the other hand read this.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=3773
After reading you should understand why excluding any of supermarkets, pharmacies or fuel sellers from essential lockdown services could easily have lead to massive inflation in New Zealand (regardless of whatever was going on with monetary or fiscal policy).
It seems that we ought to be literally, Newfoundland in all meanings.
If now is not the time for using some of the enormous political capital that Labour (read: Ardern) has accumulated and campaign on a progressive and transformative policy platform then when is the time?
Is Labour going to be a chassis whilst blaming a minor and junior coalition partner for being a handbrake on all of its ‘aspirations’. When does a “nuclear moment” change into a “nuclear decade”?
Although there will be more crises in future, I won’t want to vote for a party (read: leader) that is good in crisis management and communication only!
Be imaginative, be bold, there is no try, there is no ”let’s do this”. Do, or do not, and be damned in the history books.
What do you think, Ad, is this ‘advanced baiting’?
No it's Yoda schooling Luke Skywalker on how to lift his vehicle out of the bog. A very good analogy. Use the power, force of your mind he urges Luke.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3-CpzZJl8w
We need to do this!
I agree 100%
Labour is the party of great intentions. Its MPs spend their years in opposition claiming that National is destroying our country through its neo-liberal policies. Then in government Labour do nothing transformational and continue BAU.
Labour will never be more popular than they are now. Now is the time to reform our economy and end poverty. If Labour do not adopt the Green policy, or at least a version of it, then what is the point of supporting them?
The 2020 Labour manifesto consists of the following policy areas:
"Be grateful and keep chewing"
"Stop asking for plans"
"Here's how we print money"
"Saying the word kindness provides shoes", and:
"The Answer Is No"
A more coherent policy platform than I’d expected. Should be an easy campaign for Labour. Any guesses for the campaign slogan?
My Electorate has changed too as I found out the other day when I actually bothered to look it up but I don’t know yet who the candidates are.
Do you give Masterclasses or should I join Beginners?
Campaign slogan: "Keep breathing"
Hmmm, bit too edgy for my liking.
Or are they hoping to attract Left-leaning, Green-friendly Labour voters … that slice of the electorate that – despite identifying most strongly with Labour – continually voted Green throughout the Key years, swung back to Labour in the midst of Jacindamania in 2017 and then further pulled back to Labour by the Govt's handling of COVID-19.
I think our chums in the Metro Woke Hipster / Ageing Hippie Party are hoping to make inroads into Left-Labour … the Left-Greens already being onboard.
Probably a correct diagnosis of the intent of the Metro Woke Hipster segment. On behalf of the Ageing Hippie faction, I'll just do an 🙄. Oh for a little sophisticated political strategising to be injected into that mix, for a change. Okay, maybe the election after next…
LOL … I've always considered you a leading spiritual force in the Ageing Hippie faction of the Green Party, Dennis … indeed longtime organiser of the dominant Grateful Dead tendency within that faction, clashing as you so often have with your strategically outwitted Loving Spoonful & Jefferson Airplane rivals. Dreadful bitter business … and yet in its own way groovy.
I was a LS fan back in '66 but not since. The airplane has stood the test of time, and I still play a selection of favourites by them at least a few times each year. Blows Against the Empire in which they relabelled themselves starship, was an all-time classic – not just the music, but their political stance as well. By the mid-'70s they had degenerated into commercial crap.
I've never actually self-identified as deadhead, but GD music has been good to me since '72 (up until then too weird to my Keith Richards taste). But Quicksilver & Moody Blues were always the best hippie bands…
The Greens can take Auckland Central out of our cold dead hands.
"If now is not the time for using some of the enormous political capital that Labour (read: Ardern) has accumulated and campaign on a progressive and transformative policy platform then when is the time?"
Exactery. And so far, despite some of the positive stuff Labour have achieved, there are stuff things that've caused me to jump ship to the Greens after a lifetime.
3 Tier dirty filthy bennies; the shameful treatment of some immigrants; kicking the can down the road on so many things (PSB included); public service reform.
edit
I know you feel strongly OwT but please save your diatribes for later after Labour is back in, though positively backing Greens. NZs are backsliding animals like Toad) and you are wise Badger who can see things pretty clearly and in a way that leads to sensible action. (I love the BBC audio version of Wind in the Willows with all those great actors.)
Badger knew of a secret entrance to Toad Hall, information entrusted to him by Toad's father, not to be disclosed to Toad till the time of necessity. Now is not yet that time. So don't go hard, the poor leftie-type things are under all sorts of pressure in Parliament (Toad Hall infested with weasels).
Remember that Roger Douglas went around giving lectures at good fees to those who wanted to sweep pesky considerations for the ordinary people aside – Tony Blair also. And they have won a huge following.
If our dormice have been able to wake up at Alice's table, it's getting us a part of a magical, clever fable. Keep the story going, it might turn out to have a happy ending. Hey, there goes the White Rabbit muttering about time, and being late!
(For people who believe in magical endings and need both a laugh and a fresh perspective apart from the chaotic grim fairy tales abounding, see the parallels with our polity and Dodson's treacle pit – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dormouse)
So don't go hard, the poor leftie-type things are under all sorts of pressure in Parliament…
Poor diddumsses…
While we are thinking of inspiring black musicians here's Paul Robeson with Joe Hill.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kxq9uFDes
Refrain – Joe Hill – 'Went on to organise'.
"I never died says he."
I tempted to go with another 'diatribe' explaining the reasons for feeling so "strongly" but I'll refrain.
Suffice to say they relate to things such as:
– One's NZ-born toddler God/Guru daughter having to watch her mother being sexually abused by an over-stayer of more than 5 years despite INZ being given the exact location of his whereabouts. Reported more than once by more than one.
– Receiving a selfie of JA and a couple of Chardonnay-sipping ladies (one closely related) at the Martinborough post election shindig at the exact time I was seated with an octogenarian hearing about what happened during partiton, and regularly taking him to hospital after he stopped eating. The reason being the indebtedness and potential loss of land as a result of his family members going through NZ's wonderful tertiary education system and series of ticket clippers at the time.
– It might even be the way I witnessed INZ 'swoops' by people quite happy to have immigrants referred to as "Scum".
(There's a lot more. And it isn't just down to what Helen Clark referred to as a "lack of capacity" in our public service these days.
A real diatribe would take several pages but I think you know what I mean.
Saying there there by me doesn't help. But convince the self-centred to do something right. try, huh i have given up with most – won't be infomed or care. but get labour in or there is no chance, as the wealthy want to live like kings and bugger responsibility to anyone or thing.
No worries @grey. NZ will get what they get off their arses to choose.
As @Incognito said at https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-06-2020/#comment-1724265
"If now is not the time for using some of the enormous political capital that Labour (read: Ardern) has accumulated and campaign on a progressive and transformative policy platform then when is the time?"
With the rate of change increasing over the past couple of decades, H1's incremental pragmatism (or pragmatic incrementalism), steady as she goes approach that worked in the past isn't going to cut it for much longer, and nor are politicians who are happy to just keep kicking the can down the road.
By the way – couldn't agree with you more:
"But also while NZs should be able to return, we also have a moral obligation to people who have built their lives around being in NZ and devoted themselves to working here as good people contributing to the country."
especially since we've turned citizenship itself into just another tradeable commodity – some as you know (Peter Thiel for example) just love collecting passports and those 'rights' that go with them, while not bothering with all those supposed 'responsibilities' we're expected to observe
This was posted last night, & yes, good on Ardern for not sacking anyone or scapegoating, just getting on with the job. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/1278081/anne-salmond-on-clickbait
Wonderful. Especially this:
Yes, that's the bit. She held her nerve, and if she had sacked people or went public with those women what would the difference be today, nothing. Great decision, excellent leadership.
If Labour stabilises over 50% in the next poll, that view will seem validated. If it continues to be an ebb tide for Labour, will you concede that it's wrong?
Don’t be so naïve.
??
Do I really need to explain this to you? A week is a long time in politics (ask Chris Penk, Simon Bridges, or Paula Bennett (next week), for example). Do you really think that the next political poll result will be determined by a single factor of your choice/preference of a media beat up of a few weeks back? If so, you’re reading way too much into polls – go and ask Swordfish – and I have a bridge to sell you. Why on Earth would you ask another commenter to concede when the issue is that they hold an opinion that’s different from yours? Isn’t that what you meant with this:
Well, that just raises the question of other factors that can reasonably be expected to ebb Labour's tide further. None come to mind. I agree that you make a reasonable point about this – but my assumption is only reasonably categorised as naive if there are other such suitable contenders, right? Perhaps you can provide a list of those??
Lack of imagination. Plus who knows what other ‘factors’ will appear over the next little while? Can you predict the future?
Nope, wrong premise; see above.
Sorry, can’t do; even though I’ve stopped playing Lotto after the announcement of the Greens’ tax policy I still will not share with you the lucky numbers for the next draws.
Huh. Sophistry is a poor substitute for addressing the issues. 🙄
What issues? There’s more than one? How can we interpret those polls if there are multiple issues at play?
A narrow and persistent focus on a single issue with negative consequences is called an obsession.
I’m calling your comments as I see them. I don’t expect you to like it but I’m not here to make friends; I use Tinder for that.
We had a government before that did whatever would increase polling – sometimes it worked, but in the end the public decided that ethics and morality did actually have a place in politics, and that polls are not good determinants for the advisability of actions on single issues.
That would be a sign it was time to go after Goldfish Woodlouse & Munter with a tad more rigour.
I feel love 4.1.1
It would have also lowered the bar considerably. The threshold for such actions must remain fairly high.
Anne is so correct that it hurts.
"Journalists" claim that they
screamedpointed to the errors on the border in order to help make NZ safer. And that is nonsensensical.Obviously anyone corrects a mistake after becoming aware of it. Dunno why you are advocating journalists are wrong to alert people to those mistakes. If the govt were able to rectify the mistakes without the help of journalists, you might have a point. But we live in a reality in which govts usually deny mistakes, right?
I don't disagree with anything the dame wrote, but her glaring omission in failing to acknowledge the role of the health minister indicates she was just trying to do spin to help Labour. Nothing to do with fairness – or social justice!
But journalists didn't just alert to mistakes. They shouted over and over and use National's "shambles" over and over for over a week, long after corrections were made.
I wonder about your reference to the Health Minister. Seems likely that you are doing the
Devil'swork forMr Woodhouse. Wonder why?It seems that Woodhouse has a valid basis to call for Clark's resignation – like I wrote yesterday, even someone with average intelligence can get it right 50% of the time. Fairness is all about giving credit where it's due.
In regard to your first paragraph, I think that's fair and I agree with your critique. Some journos do seem to have an anti-govt agenda that warps their judgment.
Did David Clark piss on your Weetbix at some time because you obviously have an unhealthy obsession with harming him ?
Don't be silly. It's all about ministerial responsibility and accountability. Look it up on the govt website if you haven't considered that yet. Self-harm.
Minsterial responsibility was never cut and dried. It's fairly easy when the Minister misleads Parliament, or is caught out in some obvious malfeasance.
But operational problems within their Ministry were always less obvious, clearly you can't sack the minister every time some public servant makes any mistake, none of them would last until lunchtime. So there has to be some threshold of mistake that justifies a sacking.
That threshold would ask questions like, is this a systemic problem, has there been a history of this, could have it been reasonably foreseen and has there been an opportunity to fix it, was the mistake reckless or ill-advised?
Now I understand exactly how these quarantine mistakes happened I am satisfied none of these criteria these apply.
What the 2012 Cabinet manual says.
"Individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention. Members of cabinet are individually responsible in three main ways:
Breaches of ministerial responsibility
The Cabinet manual provides some guidance, but ultimately it is for the prime minister to decide, in a broader political as well as a constitutional context, whether a breach of individual ministerial responsibility has occurred and, if so, what the consequences should be.
Grounds for resignation or dismissal include misuse or abuse of the financial supports available to a minister, and misleading the prime minister, one’s cabinet or parliamentary colleagues, or Parliament itself. On some occasions ministers who are the subject of an accusation will stand aside until matters have been investigated. If no serious fault on the part of the minister is established, their cabinet position will be restored.
Vicarious responsibility
Vicarious responsibility is the one aspect of individual ministerial responsibility where the consequences of a breach are most debated. In one view, even where a minister is unaware of an action taken by a subordinate, he or she should resign. The contrary view, held by successive New Zealand governments, is that rectification should be placed ahead of resignation."
Rectification should be placed ahead of resignation.
It's for the PM to decide. She decided for rectification. All the rest is commentary. Time to move on from desiring to examine the entrails which is some people's sole purpose- not for reasons of state but for reasons of political revenge. Motivation is important in this discussion as it informs our choice in the matter.
That's well-reasoned. Just leaves aside the issue of damage to Labour & the PM's reputation for good judgment. Time will tell on that. I do agree that public perceptions of responsibility, accountability & natural justice are irrelevant to how govt operates.
Good reply mac, way better than my off-the-cuff effort.
David Clark is an idiot, long before Covid 19. Does no one here remember the string of lies he told about Middlemore way back in 2018/2019, which after many months he admitted his 'errors' (lies or ignorance morelike).
Just do a Google search 'David Clark Middlemore' for the full story.
He is an embarrassment to the government. And why on earth do we now have Megan Woods, the Minister of Housing, fronting Covid 19? Surely that is Clarks job, or just a tacit admission that he is not up to the job. Sack the idiot.
It is my understanding that covid-19 is still largely a health issue – while organisation of quarantine and managed isolation at the border include some health issues, the task mostly requires coordination with transport, airports, planning for accommodation, administration of the process, logistics relating to security and specialist supplies, and communication to travellers. She is not being asked to make or approve Health decisions, but to facilitate implementation of those decisions.
Thats a good answer Ed1. Makes sense, but my comments re Clark stand. I will never forget his shambolic and deceiptful approach with Middlemore.
Peter CHCH how come that Health has been the very big winner/most successful of the port folios under the coalition govt if Clark is such bad news. I have outlined now a number of times what has been achieved in health under his watch.
Okay, even someone with average intelligence can get it right 50% of the time and fairness is all about giving credit where it's due.
The link has the timeline of coronavirus.
https://shorthand.radionz.co.nz/coronavirus-timeline/
If you list for us all the things that David Clark did along the line and let us know what % of things he got right we can decide whether any credit is due.
Maybe, in itemising all those things he did you could also weight them according to significance. Not significance as determined by public reaction to them and headlines but significance in terms of handling the Covid-19 to best cope with the situation and protect us.
FIFY
Myself, I have no qualms in suggesting Woodhouse's performance since 1/ Covid/19 is more deserving of public contempt and opprobrium than Clarks.
Anne Salmond a partisan spin doctor for Labour
I can’t stop crying
😀
Re Incog, I think DF projecting a bit there.
I know you were an early adopter of Chris Trotter's argument that the government had to dump the Health Minister to save itself (this is the same person who argued that Labour was wrong to dump Little for Ardern in 2017).
And you also believe the fallacy that the media alerted the government to failings that saved us all (the media's own spin of their gotcha grab a headline style).
But to adopt the
Pete GeorgeJoffre of Verdun approach to defending a position is, while courageous at the risk of heavy casualties, such as perspective and truth.Think it through.
The government was under pressure to move to Level 1. The DG of Health would have advised to wait another week and (so they could in time) bring in testing to minimise the greater risk applying at Level 1. Cabinet decided to bring it in on June 9 with a days notice before there was capacity to test, and for all we know Clark took Bloomfield's position in Cabinet but was outvoted.
The PM herself has said those two work together and that there was collective responsibility – the whole of Cabinet made the choice.
Re Joffre of Verdun, I did scan the wiki but relevance failed to become apparent. Not sure why you would jump to the conclusion that media reportage of quarantine failures failed to alert the govt. Calling it a fallacy obviously disregards public opinion.
And I rarely adopt Trotter's opinion on anything. I've spent a lifetime figuring stuff out before anyone else, and in this instance I had already got there independently when I reported his view.
As regards your later reasoning, it disregards the relevance of ministerial responsibility but the countering argument you mention has been well made elsewhere already and I accept the PM's advocacy of collective fudging on the basis of realpolilik. 🙄 There is indeed room for diverse views on this situation so I will try to refrain from reiteration of my view!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Joffre
It is certainly a fallacy to presume a government only learns about something when it can be read by the public in the media or when media ask them questions.
Minister’s often advocate based on their ministry advice but are then outvoted and become part of collective responsibility … cabinet papers when released in x weeks are going to show advice (I would expect that this would have been one rationale for another week at level 2) that bringing in a testing regime would take longer than 1 day (June 8 to June 9).
From memory (not that I was there at the time), the battle of Verdun cost the French 450,000 dead and the Germans 420,000 dead. One shell landed for something smaller than every square metre on that battlefield. It was war specifically to wear down the enemy by attrition. Let's kill more of yours than you kill of ours.
I have walked some of that battlefield and viewed a walled-up part of the French fort Douaumont where after capture by the Germans a 410mm shell penetrated the roof and instantly killed some 700 men.
I was then, and am still sorry, that truth is not the only casualty of war.
As an adolescent I read All Quiet on the Western Front and it spooked the hell out of me. Made me anti-war. Later, in '64, hearing Bob Dylan sing Masters of War got me reinforced on that:
And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I will follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
'Til I’m sure that you’re dead
I read the same book, and Archibald Baxter's "We Shall Not Cease" and heard the song "Universal Soldier" by Donovan. "He's here and there, and you and me, and brother can't you see, This is not the way we put an end to war."
Trotsker wouldn't be angry at Labour for him being wrong would he? Surely he wouldn't be so self involved and arrogant.
Interesting review of the Greens radical tax policy by someone who frames it as moderate! https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121976743/greens-wealth-tax-will-appeal-to-labours-leftwingers
Most countries in the OECD have a CGT and some form of wealth/estate tax as well, and a higher top rate of tax than 33 cents.
Advocating for something of that sort here is not radical but mainstream, New Zealand is the outlier on tax.
I feel Love, thank you for posting that. Yes, I think people have been forgetting to be kind to each other. Fear is behind Duncan Garner's plea for the border to be closed to returnees. Also some do not want to share the safe places on the lifeboat we have become.
Most are anxious that our systems could be overwhelmed, but others are still wanting even more people allowed in. So those groups try to justify their position about our borders with cries of "Shut them" or "Open them"
Muller is saying we "won't survive without open borders, our GDP will be wrecked." The emphasis is for returnees who bring cash along with the virus. He does not say how much it would cost the country if cases slipped through with the students or immigrant workers, instead the short term gains are lauded.
Muller and c/o would create jobs with private groups doing the necessary isolation work. There is no mention of training or oversight though, the very things they are rumbling about now. "But they would do it better" Really?? So much unjustified hubris.
Over a million New Zealanders are learning working or living overseas. Those who are working for affected entities, those afraid of changing health circumstances, and those needing to complete contracts or sell possessions are not able to "jump the first flight out". Some had return flights which were postponed or cancelled,
The returnees have come from frightening situations, and often have had their lives and plans wrecked, we need to be ready for thousands of these covid refugees.
At what point will a journalist ask Todd Muller, "So, how many deaths are an acceptable if we allow all the students/tourists back in?"
Muller has raised an important dilemma. Our border restrictions are simultaneously too weak and too strong. Too weak, because recent issues suggest that getting them 100% perfectly secure from COVID-19 intrusions is difficult. Too strong, because they harm the economy by stopping people coming here, and by putting those who do in a business-unfriendly two-week quarantine.
How do we square the circle and reconcile these contradictions – something that is 100% safe and also lets the economy roar into action? I’d humbly put forward a suggestion that I think cracks it:
We should have completely unrestricted borders for homeless people who don’t actually exist. Totally safe – because they don’t exist. But great for the economy too – imagine all the people who could be employed trying to find them. As Michael ('Aristotle') Woodhouse would say – "no evidence of existence is not proof of non-existence" – so it’s a never-ending task. Plenty of opportunity for thrusting entrepreneurs in this scenario. I will be putting this idea forward to Todd for his masterful consideration.
AB
A Hoot
Business unfriendly? I think you mean, massive business opportunity. A captive market fergawdsake. Do they want government to gut and fillet the fish for them as well?
Todd Mullers chant that borders must open any other option is untenable is stupid we don't have the capacity in our health system if it got out of control.
Looking at the Canterbury rebuild and repairs Nationals handling of this disaster now being exposed that the $550 million repairs of dodgy repairs is set to rise into $billions of dollars as most of the repairs were substandard on par with the leaky buildings $ 35 billion cost.
National cut health spending by 20% over 9 years leaving our health system in a very bad condition unable to cope with a small outbreak.
Luckily our borders were shut ,but on every measure our hospital system has been run down.Buildings in a very poor state, massive shortages of experienced professionals massive shortages of nursing staff.filthy dirty hospitals cleaned by poorly trained minimum wage casual workers who don't care about cleaning wards properly.
Muller if you want to open the border's put your money where your mouth is $ billions need to be spent on just the buildings let alone staffing to cope with a worst case scenario.
This would take at least 4 years of a massive increase in health funding to cope with any moderate outbreak.
Our countries ability to cope is at the bottom of the OECD.
This is a really strange press release from Muller:
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2006/S00278/whats-your-border-strategy-prime-minister.htm
Leaving aside the confused calendar (tomorrow *is* next month), it reads like a defensive child, responding to a telling-off. Short and sullen.
It is a statement from the opposition on policy at the border, without any mention of National's policy at the border. Who is Muller aiming this at? Probably his own caucus ("look, I'm doing something"). But really it just comes across as more digging.
As the wannabe next PM, why doesn’t he front up with his answers? We need to know so that New Zealanders have confidence in electing the right people to progressively and safely open the border and grow the economy.
Muller fails to understand that talking an economy down is a self fulfilling prophecy.His diatribe that the only answer for the economy of NZ inc, is the opening of the borders seems to be at odds with both public opinion,and economic statistics (and more a message from his sponsers).
To enable a recovery,people need confidence ie stability for decision making such as spending or investment,not an enhanced set of risks.
Cordon sanitaire for NZ is working,relaxation of controls overseas has seen that too early gets recurrence,and return to lockdown.
to have confidence we need to ask the right questions.
The question of predicting the disease trajectory is less important than questions related to what’s necessary to 1) cause an exponential decrease rather than increase in new infections and 2) cause this decrease to occur as quickly as possible.
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/2011542117
Certainly some strange goings on in National re the border, Garner's piece at 1 above, and Kirk Hope's (Business NZ) rant, then this. Something's cooking
More digging? I'd say a fox hole, quickly.
I imagine Matthew Hooton is behind this current nonsense. It is exactly how he operated when he was part of the RNZ Monday morning political bash with Kathryn Ryan. He was forever making absurd claims without a skerrick of evidence to back them up. Even Ryan found some of them sufficiently unpalatable to give him a scolding – not that he ever took any notice.
The palaver around the border could be related to this decision
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/420153/covid-19-nz-to-host-virtual-apec-summit-in-2021
I realise that many on the left would probably prefer this particular sleeping dog to be left to rot, but a Royal Commission that doesn't actually report?
Could give the perpetrator a higher profile .
To push his agenda
Trickldrown, can you please respond to this moderation note? You are still in premod until I see that. Thanks.
https://thestandard.org.nz/green-party-rocks-their-new-guaranteed-minimum-income-policy/#comment-1724057
You're now in the blacklist, which means that your comments won't show in the front end until you respond to moderation. Please read my comment above, follow the link and respond, thanks. It's not a big deal, you just have to pay attention to moderation and respond and then things will get sorted out.
The relevant ideology of the partisans seems to be that one must attempt to de-platform opponents at all times (rather than working together for the common good). Using that logic, they would have opposed the Churchill/Stalin summits that produced the Allied victory over Hitler in WWII.
So when you get spokespeople for local islamic folk wanting to understand the motives of the shooter, they dig in and resist. Why give him a platform? What they don't say to those folk is "What part of white supremacy do you not already understand?" Implying that someone is a slow learner is too non-pc for the de-platformers…
I'd say let him have his platform but not in person on video as that will readily be misused. Let his words be reported in the third person, so that his explanations for his actions are known, but without the rhetoric and the inflammatory content.
Let it be a dispassionate reporting, as an historian would write commentary upon a Mussolini speech, or a psychologist would review in case notes of a serial killer, or a linguistics expert might examine in a study of the language of hate.
Documents available to those who have a proper interest in the matter, restricted upon sufficient grounds.
But then I'm not a victim or related to his victims, nor am I of the religion or ethnic group related to his victims. I might think differently, then.
One thing I'm sure we would agree on, is that we don't want the words and views, especially a video, of a hateful and evil killer to cause more harm in our community.
I like that approach. Get a professor of sociology to provide an expert analysis and use that to inform those who seek an explanation for the massacre. See if the result satisfies their interest – or do they want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth instead? Anyway, probably best to restrict access to the victims, eh?
Your final sentence is possible to be read to read two diametrically opposed things. 🙂 Whichever you meant, I do believe that the victims should be consulted, and whatever evidence of the killer's motives, explanations and justifications be treated with as much care as is possible.
Not a bad suggestion mac, I could go with that.
At the the time I accepted the censorship was probably necessary in the immediate aftermath of the event, but I recall saying that waiting for a Royal Commission to answer the obvious questions was a reasonable compromise.
I still think this is necessary. I don't need to hear from the perpetrator directly, but there remain open questions about his travels, connections and motives that should be made public. The fact that the authorities seem deeply reluctant to be transparent on this only sharpens my doubts.
I don't have any conspiratorial doubts, just a desire to serve the needs of justice and humanity compassionately.
The left would have no problem with it. You think a government with a top rate of tax at 33 cents, not CGT, no wealth tax, no estate tax is left wing. Why?
There is no reason to think a openly right wing government would rush this out with full disclosure.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/audio/james-shaw-climate-change-minister-on-farm-to-forestry-controversy/
MH to JS; "we're friends now", at the close of the interview. So farmers using estimates for the purpose of scaremongering encounter the facts from James, and lose. Good to hear that the people in local communities involved in forestry are keen to make the shift to native forests instead of pine.
Fed farmers say its 70 k hectares .
O'connor say it say provisionalnumbers for 2019 are 22 k hectares
Shaw say 13 k
Confused of raetihi???
I’ve edited o’connor’s figures after a quick check
It obviously depends on which side of the fence you are 😉
I'd expect the feds to massage numbers but two of those chaps should have access to the real figures!!!
Entirely possible that different Ministries have/use different numbers 😉
Meridian accused of cheating by spilling water to bump up prices. Is this the product of Key's vision?
Meridian Owner: New Zealand Government (51.02%, 2016)
They may just have been trying to help the fish, or give kayakers a decent course to practice on, or a number of really thoughtful reasons. I wonder what their defence will be? Perhaps they expect a huge amount of rain and don't want a collapse as elsewhere recently in the world. Don&#Can’t remember just where but I read about dams collapsing FTTT, it's not rare enough to be sanguine about it.
Suppose those dividends must be paid to the Mum and Dad investors?
It's not fair on the poor to take away their incentive to better themselves by selling cheaply, when you can nurture their growth to selfimprovement by screwing them into the ground and kicking them in the face. It's what jesus would want.
You sound sort of muddy yourself Gabby perhaps with imprints of hobnail boots in your cheeks. But leave Jesus out of that, his name gets besmirched by the smirking tv evangelists, personality cults and prosperity churches without having it popped in to every discourse on a Godwin basis.
Better let Todmunter know.
The case for renationalising them?
Petrol going up by 4cents pl tomorrow.
"The ministry says the increased fuel price will cost the average one-vehicle household around $35 to $40 per year." What not $400 per car?
We run a fuel card with discount off the national price and the provider sends notification of any price movement 3 or 4 days before. Got one for a price increase of 3-4c applied yesterday, but nothing yet for tomorrow or Monday.
Bit cynical making a fuss about it in the media when the price has already gone up.
Bad timing for a press release
The country's pork sector says it is facing "severe staff shortages" with skilled migrant workers unable to enter the country and those already here in danger of not having their visas renewed.
The industry is calling on the Government to urgently review its policies around who it lets into the country in the wake of COVID-19.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/rural/2020/06/pork-sector-calls-for-urgent-meeting-to-find-solution-to-shortage-of-skilled-migrant-workers.html
Pigs are considered as important hosts or “mixing vessels” for the generation of pandemic influenza viruses. Systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is essential for early warning and preparedness for the next potential pandemic. Here, we report on an influenza virus surveillance of pigs from 2011 to 2018 in China, and identify a recently emerged genotype 4 (G4) reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 virus, which bears 2009 pandemic (pdm/09) and triple-reassortant (TR)-derived internal genes and has been predominant in swine populations since 2016. Similar to pdm/09 virus, G4 viruses bind to human-type receptors, produce much higher progeny virus in human airway epithelial cells, and show efficient infectivity and aerosol transmission in ferrets. Moreover, low antigenic cross-reactivity of human influenza vaccine strains with G4 reassortant EA H1N1 virus indicates that preexisting population immunity does not provide protection against G4 viruses. Further serological surveillance among occupational exposure population showed that 10.4% (35/338) of swine workers were positive for G4 EA H1N1 virus, especially for participants 18 y to 35 y old, who had 20.5%
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/1921186117
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53218704
If at first you don't succeed…
Now now. Being mean to China like that creates a very real danger some left-winger will call you racist. It's what they do. Remember you don't have to actually be racist to be racist, you just have to trigger the paranoia by means of creating a subjective impression in their minds. Even commenting on the weather could do it. The world is an extremely dangerous place! 🥶
It helps if you are though. Doesn't it.
If feeding anti-biotics to pigs, allowing live markets with animals in cages cheek by jowl does not cause us a hospital crisis with super bugs there is the pandemic, next is the matter of hormones into American livestock and the promotion of the burden of that and Big Pharma in FTA around the world …
Not again. The main dairy farm job site shows some 720 jobs with around 1900 looking for work(okay that 1900 needs to be culled for the ineligible) and yes it is pigs but there must be some transferable skills and we have a lot of unemployed neets that are being trained. So why are the media giving this a beat up?
The owners need to get onto plan B
– updating and brushing up their employer CV
-making sure they have the right skills, wages and background conditions including further training and skills updating being offered to employees.
-having references that show they don't take drugs or indulge in sackable offences towards their employees like bullying and sexism.
-using their local networks to score an employee
-doing sufficent training and forward planning to put resilience into the industry so the issue does not reoccur.
Stop whinging and seeking special treatment as the market will provide.
Problem fixed.
QT: Muller just denied ever saying that we should open up to China. A quote just read from cell phone. Misleading? Dunno.
And Nick Smith sat down after trying to argue that the question whether the PM had read the quote attacked the Opposition leader.
Now what ever attack could there be in a quoting of a text in direct contradiction to what an MP (Muller) had just said to the House he did not say?
Hinting that Todmunter might be a lying shitweasel would be A NATIONAL DISGRACE.
More that it is so easy to do so … is an enmbarrassment to ….
I noted Mallard ignored him as though he had never spoken and called Jacinda Ardern to answer original supplementary.
https://www.twitter.com/Kiwi_things/status/1277796930593017856
Gosh, Todmunter will have something for Confession this week.
Are you aware that todays report highlighted the reason for the fuck up. It was an IT mistake of not putting the NIH number on one of the two forms required so they couldn't be cross referenced. If every Minister resigned after an IT fuck up everybody in the country would have had a turn at being a Minister.
Typical IT bullshit, over-promising and under delivering. the industry runs on more bullshit than Fonterra.
Question for past/current 'leading lights' in the National party: If 'your team' had been in charge during this pandemic, and your efforts had contributed to NZ's relatively good Covid-19 health outcomes (~1,530 cases; 22 deaths; at level 1 for weeks with no evidence of community transmission), would you be relieved and pleased? That's how I feel.
You're all right.
I've just talked myself, via my blog comments, into believing if you can't shout for the people you're no good to them.
The last one who did that was Norman Kirk. All the following played the cards they were given by the powerful.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
I think it's a logical move for people to have watertanks to catch their own water.
Film and television getting a funding boost $73 million I hope some putea will go to Tangata Whenua projects.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
The fule tax will lower our emissions that will be good for our environment.
The Matariki festival in Taramaki Makaru looks good.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
The reality is our Wai is life so conservating the use of Wai is the way of the future so we don't use it all and leave nothing for our wildlifes environment.
Having a sestanable fishery is of utmost importance for our future generations.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
Its good to see Rugby Park getting a up grade.
That's is cool Te puia hosting tourist again in Rotorua.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
The Zorb ride rolling down a hill in a big bubble looks good.
Off the Beaten track looks like a good company.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
I think playing if safe with is correct.
Doc does awesome mahi for Aotearoa wildlife and environment.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama
It will be awesome when New Zealand history is taught from Tangata Whenua facts on the events.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Looks like the ski season is going to be OK after all.
That was a lucky landing for that small aircraft alright.
There is a few good reasons to keep a vigilant process and keep the virus out of Aotearoa.
The science festival looks great its good to get people interested in science.
Ka kite Ano
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Kia Ora
Newshub.
There are people who don't consider the effects of their actions jumping the fence.
That's the way Paddy.
That's is a cool waiata.
Ka kite Ano.