With Muldoon making one of his sporadic appearances I thought to do some reading to see how good the memory is. It’s an interesting exercise, one to serve as a reminder that the memory is always flawed and two to be reminded how one’s own bias and personal circumstances influence how we see events as they occur.
1984 and the general election. It’s often still talked about and the terms currency crisis, constitutional crisis, Muldoon & Lange blah always take big billing in the narrative. That’s not my abiding memory of the election and after reading up on it most of my recollection holds good. I had some bits wrong but still had the crux of it.
The big story was the country was attacked by our own business community who managed to loot the taxpayer of nearly half a billion dollars. And that’s in 1984 dollars. A lot of fortunes were made from the big currency devaluation and it was the taxpayer who footed the bill for it.
I had only a couple of questions I wanted answered. Who were the currency speculators and when would the new government be going after them. The former is still unanswered and time answered the latter. I can’t help but think if the speculators had been exposed the next decades of NZ politics would have been very different.
So, that’s my memory of the 1984 election; that the country was fleeced of a lot of money and we never did get the utu we deserved. I bet there aren’t many others here who remember it that way -:)
How do you claim tax payers footed the bill for the devaluation? The country changed the rate of exchange between $NZ and $US because they were running out of the foreign currency. But people made money by anticipating this change (yes there was a leak as well) not by avoiding taxes or stealing govt funds.
The Reserve Bank was in charge of foreign exchange back then Nic. The sting was a simple one; Buy forex from the reserve bank for $1 before the election and sell it back to the reserve bank for $1.20 after devaluation. Since the reserve bank was funded by the taxpayer it was the taxpayer who paid out the speculators.
The Reserve bank sold nearly $1billion in forward contracts just in the week leading up the election. That’s $200 million paid out to the scepculators there alone.
The country wasn’t running out of forex or going broke like people suggested. The concern was that the speculators would keep hoovering up more forex if they didn’t devalue immediately.
The NZ dollar was overvalued. That is what the market was trying to tell the Government.The Government decided that it wasn’t and tried to prop it up by attempting to meet all the demand to sell NZ Dollars. That isn’t the speculators fault. That is the Governments fault for trying to keep a currency artificially high. Btw what was the benefit of keeping the NZ Dollar at the higher rate?
You’re spouting bullshit Gosman. The currency speculation was a short term gamble and the need or not need to devalue wasn’t one with time constraints.
90% of the forward contracts with the reserve bank were due to mature before the end of August. The speculation wasn’t against the dollar being devalued it was against the incoming Govt devaluing almost immediately.
And you’re also wrong about the dollar beiong overvalued, as were all the so-called pundist of the time. The doilar went UP after it was floated.
The reserve bank or (rather it delegated from treasury) is only able to do this by the governments ability to tax, but it issues all the $NZ itself. It certainly does so to pay out forex exchange contracts. In this sense no taxpayers paid for the devaluation, the reserve bank simply issued the $NZ at the new rate as required.
The reserve bank was running out of foreign exchange reserves at the time.
The Forex reserves of the Reserve bank were being rapidly run down as they were being used to prop up an artificially high exchange rate. This is not speculators fault. This is solely the fault of the Government for setting the rate of the NZ dollar too high.
Not true gosman. When demand for forex became heavy prior to the election, and started running down existing reserves, the Reserve Bank started selling forward contracts as an alternative to borrowing more foreign exchange. They could always borrow more forex, the country had a good credit rating.
The risk was the growing tab that the speculators were running up.
If you think you can beat the market over more than the short term you are dreaming. You should join your brethren in Venezuela or Cuba where there are multiple currency values as a result of the Government having no idea how to set a proper value.
What was the issue with devaluing the dollar anyway? Why do you think a NZD value that was set by Muldoon was better for the economy than one set by Douglas?
Well lets assume the devaluation netted the speculators $500 million. In your world the RB just magics up $500 million out of nowhere and gives it to them. Even in that scenario they’re getting $500 million while the rest of the taxpayers are getting nothing,… their wealth has increased at the expense of everyone else.
Of course at the time they fixed it, they were bound to be wrong in the future. Your really just saying always float your currency or expect the government to face occasional currency crises, right?
The point at which Euston makes any claim about taxpayers footing any bill is discussing the govt deficit. Its highly debateable if this is tax payers paying, because as I said, the only cost is the amount the RBNZ issues out at their forex window (in the fixed exchange system). In practice govts dont tend to repay their deficits, they occasionally pay them down a bit until it causes an economic crisis (eg a recession) eventually.
Ultimately the summary of that discussion should be that moving to a floating exchange rate has completely removed a lot of pressures on the government.
Nothing illegal in the actions of speculators at the time of course. If you want prosecutions make a case for a law against it, going forward.
Only in your view Nic, I’m happy to take Eastons word for it. He’s no fool.
You’re a bit like gosman in the way you want to divert my argument. My position is clear enough. I wanted the speculators identified so we all knew who they were. In the pursuit of substantial personal gain they displayed a blatant disregard for the economic well being of the country and if/when any of them raised their heads again in the future we’d know where they were coming from… if we knew who they were.
There was also the point that big fortunes were made and we could have done with some solid reassurances that no-one in a privileged position was in on it.
Prosecutions weren’t expected, just an opening of the books. Public opinion was the only court they needed to face.
Nah, the sting was done and dusted by then. They could have started investigating the funding of the speculators and possibly found some illegal doings but I wasn’t bothered about that personally.
What wasn’t looked into much is the speculators themselves and where they got the cash to buy their forex. Some of them at least probably played some devious tricks to get in on the game. One rumour was of a financial institution raiding depositors funds, the truth of that I do not know.
What I expected (wanted) from the Govt was for them to essentially blacklist the participants from having access to any taxpayer money or government influence again. That would have been quite legal, and justified IMO.
It was the decision of the government prior to the 1984 election to hold the exchange rate at a higher level than the “market” thought was appropriate, and it was also that government’s decision to issue forex contracts. I suspect DH that you and Gosman are talking across each other. It seems quite simple to me that Muldoon made decisions that turned out to be wrong. At least some of the forward exchange contracts would have been needed to facilitate imports or exports. Any change in relative wealth does mean that there are winners and losers.
I do not recall a decision being public before the election from Labour that they would float the currency, but by the time the election was decided there may have been few options
When you fix the currency you open up the possibility of a currency attack along the lines of what happened in 1984. The people betting against the Kiwi dollar’s value being correct are acting in an entirely rational manner. It is the Government who believes they know better than the market what the value should be that are acting irrationally.
‘the market’ are the owners of capital, the more you own the larger your impact…so in effect you are telling us we should allow the wealthy (of which NZ is a tiny proportion) to determine what our currency is worth in the casino where they are the house….you may think thats preferable to attempting to impart some control but I’d suggest that casinos are hardly a model for society.
Incorrrect. The Forex market is both the demand as well as the supply of capital. I can demand Forex without owning it. I can borrow (in fact many people do) against future earnings to get the Forex I require.
Except YOU have convinced virtually noone (that I am aware of) of the benefits of your approach. When I challenge you on this you build some flimsy defense that it is all because of evil capitalists trying to sabotage your alternatives. You seemingly ignore the inconvenient fact that your alternatives are so fragile that they are seemingly easily stopped by a handful of people with power and money.
Your question does raise an interesting point of difference between many left wing and right wing people. A large number of left wing people seem to object to the very concept of the market determining the price of goods and services and believe that the true value is better determined by some other means (usually involving a centralised authority controlling the price). They question the motivations of people involved in a market as if they are trying to scam something and people need to be protected from them.
You assume they have done no work. They in fact have done a great deal of work. They have ensured international trade can be maintained with minimal friction.
There was not increased unpredictability in this situation. In fact there was greater predictability because their actions virtually guaranteed the currency was devalued.
Even in a floating exchange rate situation speculators can reduce currency fluctuations.
Speculators can only reduce currency fluctuations if they bet wrong – i.e. selling before the price increases, or buying just before the price decreases.
But what they are guaranteed to do is increase the volume of trading, and if the wind direction is obvious to all they sell overvalued currencies thus even further lowering the overall demand, which makes the troughs much deeper.
You’re a market acolyte – you might have access to the volume of NZD sales prior to the dollar being floated. As it is, it fell 20%. Without the speculators, it might have only fallen 10 or 15%. Otherwise you’re arguing that decreased demand doesn’t change the equilibrium price.
Speculators CAN increase exchange rate fluctuations but they CAN also reduce it. What happens to the currency in a situation with no speculators if you are an export orientated economy reliant on products that have a highly seasonal demand and supply ?
Then your producers deal with those seasons, just as farmers deal with real seasons.
Because in order to reduce exchange rate fluctuations overall, the majority of speculative trading needs to be at a loss. So either your position is that speculators provide market stability by being mugs who lose money, or they make money by exacerbating fluctuations and market instability (thus being a barrier to trade in real goods and services people want).
It really is that simple. My position is that if speculators make money overall and on average, then they can only do so by betting in the direction that the market will go and therefore exacerbating market fluctuations. For speculators to actually stabilise the market they need to be bad at their jobs.
Either way, the existence of speculators means somebody is making money off chumps rather than actually producing something worthwhile to humanity.
The producers “deal” with it??? What does that mean?
You ignore what would happen. There would be extreme fluctuations of the price of the currency as there would be steep increases in the demand for it as Exports became available followed by equally steep falls when they no no longer were being supplied.
Speculators provide liquidity to smooth over such periods and enable regular purchases (and sellers) to buys and sell easily.
If a market is seasonal, they don’t bloody need to be trading in that market in the off season. So producers diversify. Just as farmers sell lambs in one part of the year, grow feed for winter, shear in spring, and so on.
What happens to an exporter of products that have a highly seasonal aspect in an environment of market speculators? When nobody wants NZD successful speculators will put off buying until they think the market has tanked, then they will buy up and put off selling until demand has peaked. Then they will sell as much as possible at that price and tank the market further. When they buy and hold until demand reaches breaking point. So the producers are faced with bigger peaks and troughs than if speculators didn’t stick their beaks in.
lol the best your religious text can produced is “it has been argued”.
What a load of shit. Speculators don’t win by betting against the market trends, they win by pre-empting and thereby reinforcing those trends.
The liquidity argument relies on the idea that a market will dry up without speculators who have no interest in that market other than speculative trading. This is an example on the simplistic analyses that free-market capitalists rely on in order to make even a mediocre argument that their system is something other than parasitic.
I don’t really care whether you accept my argument. I am merely pointing out what the argument is. You can choose to believe the opposite. It bothers me not a jot.
normally you come up with better bullshit than ‘not bovvered’. But if all you have to go on is the idea that more people bidding on something somehow doesn’t raise the price, I guess your cognitive dissonance can only go so far.
I stand corrected. It is rapidly falling since 1988 and is the best we have had since the 1950’s.
“More detailed data from similar sources plots a continuous decline since 1988. This is attributed to globalization increasing incomes for billions of poor people, mostly in India and China.”
“Developing countries like Brazil have also improved basic services like health care, education, and sanitation; others like Chile and Mexico have enacted more progressive tax policies.[35]”
So it’s not all down to the market.
And “globalization” isn’t just currency speculators. As discussed above, speculators can act as barriers to international trade.
I never claimed it was. I just disputed that global inequality is getting worse. I was wrong about it being the best ever I admit but was correct how it is getting better.
you are confusing income inequality with wealth inequality….wealth inequality is rising and is projected to continue
“The world’s richest people have seen their share of the globe’s total wealth increase from 42.5% at the height of the 2008 financial crisis to 50.1% in 2017, or $140tn (£106tn), according to Credit Suisse’s global wealth report published on Tuesday.
“The share of the top 1% has been on an upward path ever since [the crisis], passing the 2000 level in 2013 and achieving new peaks every year thereafter,” the annual report said. The bank said “global wealth inequality has certainly been high and rising in the post-crisis period”.
The motivations will be many and varied but ultimately the goal is to win…and that means everyone else loses. As said , not a model for cohesive society.
Far too many (both left and right) appear to consider ‘the market’ is some disinterested force when the reality is the polar opposite, so the question really should be do you want your lifestyle determined by an elected group of locals whom you can remove at regular periods or do you want it determined by some faceless individuals almost certainly not residing in your society who are engaged in some light entertainment?
You haven’t explained why anybody would lose from betting against an overvalued NZ Dollar. Moving towards a more sensible level would seem to be the best approach. If anybody is causing harm it is the Government trying to prop up a currency at a level higher than it should be.
a government trying to maintain an exchange rate at a ratio that serves the purposes of their economy is every bit as reasonable as allowing it to be controlled by the whim of non resident thrill seekers…..the (sad) reality is if we wish to trade we must play by the house rules so we should at least attempt to control the impact by not giving them a blank cheque and selecting our own stake.
It is not reasonable. It is entirely irrational that a Government can control the price of it’s currency in any meaningful way long term. It is why you have ridiculous situations where places like Venezuela have multiple values for their currency and why Zimbabwe no longer has it’s own one.
capital flight…caused by poor policy decisions and underpinned by a lack of democratic rigour. What do you think would happen to NZ with its current policy settings if there was capital flight on a similar scale here?…exactly the same thing…so it is not the system its the quality of the decision making and the exposure…and make no mistake, we are exposed.
What would happen is the value of the NZ Dollar would fall dramatically making NZ exports more valuable and encouraging greater foreign investment as our assets became comparatively cheaper. that would in turn drive up the value of the dollar and lower interest as a Capital flight turned in to a Capital flood.
perhaps …in time, just as it may in Zimbabwe and Venezuela (may require some democratic reform first) … meanwhile we would be impacted every bit as much as them, with spiralling inflation, shortages, unemployment and population exodus…..our ‘market forces’ economy wont change that.
Ummm… no. They were impacted by those things BECAUSE they ignored market forces. It was not because they allowed themselves to be dictated by market forces. They were/are actively hostile to the market setting the price of their currency and they suffered the inevitable consequences.
ummm…they ignored market forces? So they (being Zimbabwe and Venezuela) misjudged how the owners of capital would react to their policies…and then doubled down.
So who runs things in Zimbabwe and Venezuela?…or NZ for that matter?
You seem to think that the Government can control EVERYTHING. Just as the government can’t control the weather it can’t control the price of goods and services in the economy. It might be able to influence the price but it can’t control it.
thats what I concluded as well….Zimbabwe and Venezuela are capitalist failures.
Indeed a Government could control everything (economy wise) in a closed economy, but I doubt virtually anyone would accept such constraint as that would impose, however an intelligent government (or society) would not hand over entire control of its economy to outside forces and would seek to retain as much control as practicable….that is not an open market economy but something more akin to the Scandinavian models (although even they have moved further right in recent years)…and that requires a more hands on approach by the state and less reliance on attracting offshore investment and more on supplying our needs onshore….especially in a world of diminishing resource.
If we accept that Gosman has done the reading necessary to assert that
“There was no indication of corruption involving NZ in the Panama papers.”
then, depending on his definitions of ‘indication’ and ‘NZ’, this must simply be a rather remarkable coincidence.
NZ foreign trust numbers plummet after post-Panama Papers rules kick in
The number of foreign trusts registered in New Zealand has plummeted by about three-quarters since a clampdown was ordered in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.
Inland Revenue said fewer than 3000 foreign trusts met a deadline last week for them to provide more information about their structures and activities.
There were 11,645 registered in April last year, in the immediate aftermath of the hacking of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
I think we can safely presume that reading is not Gosman’s cup of tea. The cognitive dissonance from the conflict between reality and his far-right fabulism must be well nigh unbearable.
Stuart Munro
Good joke. Denial. And accolades to you in trying to keep a thread of rationality on this blog, a gold thread that shows up all the dim bulbs that have found a home here.
No, they’re bludgers and produce no value. From Why we can’t afford the rich:
As the Christian socialist R.H. Tawney put it in 1929 (hence the gendered language): ‘The man who lives by owning without working is necessarily supported by the industry of someone else, and is, therefore, too expensive a luxury to be encouraged.’
The rich get wealthy through ownership and not through production of value. Their income is fully unearned and thus is a theft upon the rest of us.
So has stated countless hard core Socialists throughout the past 150 years yet your ideology seems to fail far quicker and more comprehensively than any system involving rich people.
Try to get it through your head that you are not an authority on socialism – or very much else come to that. The extravagance of your prejudices probably precludes you ever being one.
It clearly frightens you. Perhaps you should obsess about something over which you have more control.
I can quote Adam Smith as well – you know, the father of modern economics. In fact, all the classical economist were scathing of rentier capitalists and warned about them.
Now we have our entire socio-economic system based upon them and their greed.
The morality of the situation completely escapes you doesn’t it Gosman.
If you want to paint it as a rational act it should also be rational that the victims of the speculation, aka the Government and us taxpayers, would want to enact some revenge over those who fleeced us of our taxes. I bet you’d squawk like a chook if that was to happen.
The value of the currency is irrelevant to the conversation gosman. It’s the undermining of our election, the deliberate harm done to our economy and the looting of the taxpayer purse we’re talking about here,
The run on the dollar had little to no impact on the election in 1984. It barely got a mention and the incoming Government did not have an idea of the extent of the issue until AFTER they had won.
It had a very big impact on our election and electoral system gosman, it triggered the constitutional crisis for starters.
I think it was perfectly reasonable for us to demand to know who the speculators were. Then we’d have known who couldn’t be trusted with anything to do with our Government.
The constitutional crisis happened when Muldoon refused to follow the instructions of the incoming government. If you claim this was the crisis of democracy you acknowledge it didn’t impact the election. My understanding is that the currency crisis became known to the incoming government only after they won.
The constitutional crisis came about because Muldoon wanted to call the speculators bluff and refused to devalue. If there had been no speculation on the currency there would have been no crisis.
Douglas wanted to devalue to dollar by 20 %. This was common knowledge at the time. The currency traders were acting entirely rationally and legally by betting that an incoming government would carry out such a plan.
You have still to tell me why you think having a currency at a rate set by Muldoon was better for the NZ economy.
So the currency crisis didn’t impact the election then. And further there would have been no constitutional crisis if Muldoon had followed instructions.
It is entirely rational. If an incoming government has indicated that they would like to devalue the NZ Dollar by 20 % why would you not sell the NZ dollar and buy other currencies on the belief that you could make 20% return when it is devalued?
They weren’t breaking any laws. Your whole arguments seems to rest on the basis you think what they did was immoral. I personally think that government trying to dictate prices of goods and services is immoral but I’m not calling for people involved in the Muldoon administration to be held accountable.
No they weren’t breaking any laws. A part of me can admit to a grudging admiration at their opportunism. But the part of me who is a taxpayer and voter also wants some utu, they did harm to the country and while they can keep their riches they should also be paying the full consequences of their actions.
No, who did harm to the country was Muldoon who foolishly attempted to keep the value of the exchange rate higher than the market was suggesting it should be. If you want Utu take it out on him.
Cripes gosman what more do you want, should they dig up the box and scatter his bones?
You do know there can be more than one baddie don’t you?
Muldoon more than paid for his part in this. He ended up being the fall guy; the patsy who everyone blamed. It’s the villains who got away scot-free with their plunder I was more concerned with.
No, Muldoon was the imbecile who thought he knew better and could dictate to the Market what the price for not only the NZ Dollar was but for virtually everything in NZ.
That is unclear Gosman, as rational (in economics) means with the ability to correctly predict the future. If that is desireable or not politically is unclear I think.
Given the incoming government had strongly hinted it believed the NZ Dollar was overvalued then it wasn’t much of a stretch to predict the future in this case.
It is you who is claiming it is an attack on society. Personally I think Government trying to set prices is an attack on society so it is the Government that is being sociopathic following your own logic.
Capitalists, like all Parasites, suck the life out of their hosts.
And you don’t actually have a leg to stand on with your personal views as they’re completely contradicted by reality. The action that we’re talking about was a few people who bought and sold money to get richer without producing any value. That extra value had to come from somewhere and it, as always, comes from the workers.
In other words, those arseholes that you worship were just looking to be even bigger bludgers.
And once again Draco my ideas hold sway across the vast majority of the World and your ideas are only supported by a small number of fringe political extremists. Ever since University (over 25 years ago) I have seen people like you claim that Capitalism is eating itself and is on the verge of collapse. I, like you, am still waiting.
All the currency speculators did was to sell NZ Dollars and buy foreign currency on the (entirely understandable) logic that the Dollar was going to be devalued and therefore they would be able to buy back the NZ Dollars at a much cheaper rate. The reasons the Government (or more precisely the Reserve Bank) was running out of Foreign currency reserves was that they had to try and prop up the NZ Dollar at the rate they foolishly decided to set it at. If they had floated the dollar then there would have been little room for speculators to make money from such a situation.
“I’m pleased to inform members and supporters that there has been a significantly
positive response to my offer to support a political party that continues to promote
the policy manifesto that The Opportunities Party assembled to contest the 2017
election.
The Board, therefore, has decided to put on hold its plan to deregister TOP as a
political party to give us time to evaluate the responses and specifically to
evaluate how TOP may evolve as a political party.
In order that TOP is given the best chance of continuing, it’s imperative that we
successfully hold our AGM on Monday July 30th. To this end the Board has changed the
quorum rule for the AGM from a minimum of 50 members to 20 members and if this is
not achieved the quorum for the subsequent adjourned meeting from 25 members to 10
members.
We expect to be in a position to announce the results of our deliberations over the
future of the Party during August.”
I humbly have a suggestion for one of the writers on The Standard to tackle for a discussion piece…Labour antisemitism hysteria, Is it out to get Jeremy Corbyn out?
Adrian, I am pleased to say that the good folk over on Kiwi Blog came to a general consensus that the charges being leveled by the likes of Margaret Hodge are without merit, and that Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the Israeli state is not anti-Semitic.
Nearly every one of the posters—except for me and a couple of others—was extremely opposed to Corbyn and Labour, but they were not so craven or so dishonest as to endorse the smears of the Blairite faction.
Well obviously no one at the Guardian has got that message, they have gone all ‘daily mail’ in their hysterical and relentless attacks on Corbyn.
I would have thought progressives in NZ would have been far most interested in this story rather than the unending stories on Trump/Russia, as this is what the liberal establishment looks like when it is under a real threat from a real progressive, they will stop at nothing to stop it and play real dirty.
I have always said Corbyn should have purged the neoliberal cancer from UK Labour when he had that initial wave of popularity, the media couldn’t have any more negative on him and his project back then anyway, so really he had nothing to lose…unfortunately I think he probably thought that he could actually work with them, turns out that they believe in their ideology just as strongly as he does his.
Well obviously no one at the Guardian has got that message, they have gone all ‘daily mail’ in their hysterical and relentless attacks on Corbyn.
Which underlines my point, Adrian, viz., that even the most extreme right wing people are not so dishonest as to call Corbyn an anti-Semite. The Blairite rump, which the Guardian shills for, has no such scruples.
I’d prefer the company of even the most zealous poster at Kiwi Blog over the likes of Margaret Hodge or Hillary Benn. The Blairite rump of the Labour Party not only has no public credibility, it has no limits to its depravity.
“…I humbly have a suggestion for one of the writers on The Standard to tackle for a discussion piece…Labour antisemitism hysteria, Is it out to get Jeremy Corbyn out..?”
Are the neoliberal Blairite MPs in Labour willing to stoop to the lowest and most vile accusations imaginable in their liberal grab bag of identity politics smears to attack Corbyn?
Yes.
Are they aided and abetted by a privileged media class who still see a 1990s bourgeois liberalism married to managerialist late capitalism as the only possible teleological direction for society?
The media are looking to follow a distractive meme, Israel go straight for the antisemitic line when their violent ways and treatment of occupied territorities is questioned. That’s when they aren’t ignoring the world.
Perhaps a post could expand to the similar tactics the alt right use to defend their dissemination of facist views….the ” but it’s free speech” meme.
Maybe the post could grow like Blips list of each area and the distraction/diversion tactics at play in cohorts with the media…who stopped being the 4th estate decades ago.
@ tc, Yes a lot (but certainly not all) of the negativity in the press does seem too come back to his position on Israel/Palestine, Corbyn was one of the very few politicians in the west with the fucking balls to openly call out Israel on their slaughter of unarmed protesters on the Gaza prison fence…and look at the reaction.
“alot (but certainly not all) of the negativity in the press does seem too come back to his position on Israel/Palestine”
… the press can’t afford to talk about anything else.
Most especially not Corbyn’s actual economic or social policies, because The Press knows that when people actually hear those policies clearly explained they actually support them, as was proven when Corbyn and momentum hit the streets and managed a stirling result despite the so called civilized liberal press.
Follow up to, comments on, a post about the governments lack of initiative. This one is about the advantages of having full employment as a government policy.
Imagine if they are renting. Yet still not much interest from the Kiwibuild for massive roll out of state rentals. From the figures presented the other day of TS looks like 300 extra only over a decade in spite of a huge increase in population and increasing inequality.
Saw this the other day too, elderly are being kicked out of a camping ground, maybe with many people unable to find or afford a cheap (they pay $200 a fortnight incl utilities) rental in Auckland they relax the by laws… Sounds like a pretty good deal they will not be able to find anywhere else, pushing more people into poverty if they are evicted.
Oh. OK. read the blurb under a poster. There’s a rally, music and speakers at Aotea square at 5.30pm, Friday. then the demo will move off to protest the Fashist event.
I’m in for the rally at Aotea Square “to celebrate the power and strength of diversity and tolerance”.
Kinda reveals why morphing from the Gareth First Party into something consensual never happened, eh? The political strategy he deployed is now clear: my way or the highway, with democracy dangled as a carrot at the end of an extremely long stick.
Effectively, it’s a contractual design. It locks participants into support of a pre-determined policy mix. They sign up to the party to promote that programme. You could call it intelligent design since the originator is clever enough, but top-down decision-making ain’t the zeitgeist, Gareth. Participatory democracy is.
Yes, Morgan claimed TOP was neither left nor right, but based on evidence-based policy excellence. But his TOP-down, antidemocratic approach shows an MO that leans right.
It is more explicit this time round with TOP invitation mkII
Open letter re: Safe and unhindered passage for the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. Urgent.
In reply to our emails to you on this matter (dated 5 July 2018 and 23 July 2018) we received an email acknowledgement from your office on 13 July 2018 and again on 24 July 2018, that indicated that we would receive a response ‘in due course’. However we have yet to receive a response from you.
Our emails requested you to demand that the Israeli authorities to end their illegal blockade of Gaza, and allow safe and unhindered passage for the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla heading for Gaza.
We have shared our request as an ‘open letter’ as this is an important issue of public concern.
Last night (NZ time) one of the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla boats, the Al Awda, was unlawfully boarded and apprehended by Israeli forces in international waters.
On board was our New Zealand representative, union leader Mike Treen, along with a number of other prominent human rights advocates and crew from around the world.
In any other circumstances if any New Zealand citizen was illegally detained in International Waters. It would be all over the News cycle. And the Foreign Affairs Minister and Acting PM both, would be expected to make a statement.
Unlawfully boarding a boat in international waters and kidnapping its occupants is called Piracy. Is the international community watching this? If so what are they going to do about this unlawful act?
The violent IDF thugs who invaded and occupied the Al Asqa Mosque last week, used as an excuse for the their actions, accounts of Palestinian youths throwing rocks at the estimated one thousand fundamentalist Jewish settlers who had tried to force their way into the Al Asqa compound.
What if the events were reversed?
What if Jewish youths threw stones at Palestinian fundamentalists encroaching on their property?
What if heavily armed Islamist forces used this as an excuse to invade the Synagogue and violently attack the worshipers?
They would be condemned around the world as terrorists and fascists, no matter what their alleged motive was.
Watched a new documentary on Netflix last night on how the rush to market of new medical devices have led to serious adverse effects. Doco looks into the highly dodgy FDA approval process and compromised bureaucrats.
…which discusses drug reactions and their gross under reporting.
Natrad, especially Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon, have done some seriously good work on highlighting NZ’s own scandalous treatment of women impacted by surgical mesh.
FDA/CDC/DOH et al…deeply conflicted and compromised…and directly responsible for an unfathomable number of deaths and injury…
Approvals process for ‘drugs’ is more stringent than for biologicals…both are now ‘fast tracked’ …for the public good of course…the approvals processes are forcast into corporate earnings/profit report…
Biologicals were not mentioned in the article about reporting/capturing/tracking of adverse events…
Putting a piece of wire into a fallopian tube on the reliance that it would inflame it and then scar over is something that shouldn’t have made it off the drawing board.
Looking back at the weekend political events and msm coverage of these, a few things stick out for me as being a little surprising.
As mickysavage noted in the first sentence of his post on Bridges and his cheerleaders, the lead up to the National Party Conference started with a plethora of fawning articles by, for example, Stacey Kirk, Audrey Young and Clare Trevett on Simon Bridges.
As the weekend wore on, Kirk and Young continued their ra ra articles, while Trevett seemed to become bored or turned off by late afternoon on Saturday and then produced two very entertaining pieces. Links if you missed them:
However, there was one longterm Herald “editorial writer and columnist” – and Key sycophant – who did not join the cheerleaders. John Roughan.
No, Roughan did not have a road to Damascus and write a turnaround re the Nats. He just ignored them and the whole Annual Conference event – and wrote an opinion piece on the events that happened one year ago that led to Jacinda Ardern becoming the leader of the Labour Party entitled “A year on from Andrew Little’s game changing decision”
Normally I bypass Roughan’s columns but that was too intriguing not to click. And I was bit surprised. In effect it is a summary and timeline of the events that happened up to and immediately after Little’s decision to step aside.
I know some Greens here will not agree with some of what Roughan has written, but IMHO it is a reasonably fair and accurate summation – especially coming from someone of Roughan’s usual persuasion.
Here are his first few paras – and then his final conclusion.
[WARNING – You really need to read the rest in between as any comments on these extracts alone will be well out of context.]
As someone who cares for the accuracy of history, it is often hard to watch the first draft being written.
This weekend it is one year since an event that may puzzle future historians of New Zealand politics. TVNZ had a poll ready for publication on the Sunday night. They had shared the results with the Labour Party’s leader, Andrew Little, who was interviewed for their weekend political programme.
…
Events moved so fast last this time last year that we have never properly reflected on them. History is in danger of deciding a public backlash against benefit cheating somehow caused Little to step down. The truth is more interesting for the development of our constitutional expectations. But history might not notice.”
Yes, there is an extraneous ‘last’ in the last para in the article. And no, I am not trying to drum up clicks for the Herald, but it is an intriguing article considering the author.
It is tradition now to have a cute animal picture in the media. This is Scoop’s and Gordon Campbell’s image for the National conference. A sweet little guinea pig. I’d vote for this one! I just don’t like it’s chances – it looks naive and somehow feminine (how do male g.p.s differ from females) but I think it might get roasted if up against hot cookies like Bennett, Collins and Adams etc. http://www.scoop.co.nz/
Oh Christ! Quelle surprise
Viv Rickard ……. Deputy Chief Exec Service Delivery MSD.
Could it be the very same Viv?
Punish punish beat beat, shunt sideways.
I used to wonder why the culture in MoBIE was so toxic.
Maybe the problem is actually within the SSC and the SSC alone.
This is real 3rd World shit
Ae!
Btw, there probably won’t be too much concern or comment on “16” even though it’s this sort of shit that the new gubbaamint will be pushing the proverbial uphill in their undertaking to make ‘change’.
And they haven’t yet come to realise there is more than one way to skin a cat (one that’s intent on scratching your eyes out)
Good morning The Am Show time to see reality I can not see national winning in 2020 .
Duncan if you don’t care about the future of your Mokopunas well yea lets just keep pouring carbon into our environment carbon taxes work I seen the traffic jams decrees with my own eyes. What do you think about TVNZ underarm bowl on Corin Dan from the Nation shifted to 930 pm . That’s sneaky
The MH370 plane going missing there were two people on that plane that owned some very important patents on that plane ???????????????????.
All these wild fires and the sad loss of life we need to pay Papatuanuku more respect keep vegetation away from building in fire prone places some places you mite have to have controled burns to burn the fuel that acumalates in these forest that have had wild fires from the beginning come up with systems to build communitys so they can survive fire its all in the design respecting Papatuanuku means we plan for the worst from her and design to minimize the risk of a natural disaster.
Butterbean you are doing good with your boot camps if we taxed sugar hard we would have half the problem solved A lot of our people bodys can not cope with sugar this fact is well documented.
Aotearoa is paradise compared to some other countrys but it still need big improvements Ka kite ano P.S on to my favorite charity
Good evening Newshub OUR business confidence will be affected by trump going around Papatuanuku trying to bully and intimidate everyone that’s a fact.
trumps good good statement it’s going to be good for his net worth. I see steve who has being going around Europe trying to reinvent himself trying to boost his profile and the neo libreal Capitalist in Europe I totally ignored this fact and he will go away
There you go some people are taking advantage of Aotearoa’s soft immigration laws big time the last government turned a blind eye they were pandering to the wealthy employers keeping wages low who cares if the displace common poor person .
Zimbabwe is having there election kia kaha Eco Maori know’s that the next government will be a government that delivers a better future for all Zimbabwean’s I see all of AFRICA has a free trade agree thats the way you know what I have said only Africans know whats best for all Africans not foreigners. Ka kite ano P.S my time on my computa was wrong the sandflys well if the are busy trying to intimadated Eco Maori our mokopunas won’t be hassled by the muppets
You see tangata Eco Maori is not just teaching tangata in Aotearoa about how there is one law for the wealthy and another for the common poor tangata and that the wealthy laugh that the poor common tangata are honest Eco Maori is teaching All of the common tangata of Papatuanuku of there SHAM . Ana to kai ka kite ano P.S the time on my computa corrected its self WTF
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
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While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
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On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
With Muldoon making one of his sporadic appearances I thought to do some reading to see how good the memory is. It’s an interesting exercise, one to serve as a reminder that the memory is always flawed and two to be reminded how one’s own bias and personal circumstances influence how we see events as they occur.
1984 and the general election. It’s often still talked about and the terms currency crisis, constitutional crisis, Muldoon & Lange blah always take big billing in the narrative. That’s not my abiding memory of the election and after reading up on it most of my recollection holds good. I had some bits wrong but still had the crux of it.
The big story was the country was attacked by our own business community who managed to loot the taxpayer of nearly half a billion dollars. And that’s in 1984 dollars. A lot of fortunes were made from the big currency devaluation and it was the taxpayer who footed the bill for it.
I had only a couple of questions I wanted answered. Who were the currency speculators and when would the new government be going after them. The former is still unanswered and time answered the latter. I can’t help but think if the speculators had been exposed the next decades of NZ politics would have been very different.
So, that’s my memory of the 1984 election; that the country was fleeced of a lot of money and we never did get the utu we deserved. I bet there aren’t many others here who remember it that way -:)
How do you claim tax payers footed the bill for the devaluation? The country changed the rate of exchange between $NZ and $US because they were running out of the foreign currency. But people made money by anticipating this change (yes there was a leak as well) not by avoiding taxes or stealing govt funds.
The Reserve Bank was in charge of foreign exchange back then Nic. The sting was a simple one; Buy forex from the reserve bank for $1 before the election and sell it back to the reserve bank for $1.20 after devaluation. Since the reserve bank was funded by the taxpayer it was the taxpayer who paid out the speculators.
The Reserve bank sold nearly $1billion in forward contracts just in the week leading up the election. That’s $200 million paid out to the scepculators there alone.
The country wasn’t running out of forex or going broke like people suggested. The concern was that the speculators would keep hoovering up more forex if they didn’t devalue immediately.
The NZ dollar was overvalued. That is what the market was trying to tell the Government.The Government decided that it wasn’t and tried to prop it up by attempting to meet all the demand to sell NZ Dollars. That isn’t the speculators fault. That is the Governments fault for trying to keep a currency artificially high. Btw what was the benefit of keeping the NZ Dollar at the higher rate?
You’re spouting bullshit Gosman. The currency speculation was a short term gamble and the need or not need to devalue wasn’t one with time constraints.
90% of the forward contracts with the reserve bank were due to mature before the end of August. The speculation wasn’t against the dollar being devalued it was against the incoming Govt devaluing almost immediately.
And you’re also wrong about the dollar beiong overvalued, as were all the so-called pundist of the time. The doilar went UP after it was floated.
The decision to devalue was on the Labour party pre-election at the time I believe.
The reserve bank or (rather it delegated from treasury) is only able to do this by the governments ability to tax, but it issues all the $NZ itself. It certainly does so to pay out forex exchange contracts. In this sense no taxpayers paid for the devaluation, the reserve bank simply issued the $NZ at the new rate as required.
The reserve bank was running out of foreign exchange reserves at the time.
You can couch it whichever way you want it was still taxpayer money being handed out to the speculators.
And no they weren’t running out of forex. You do know what a forward contract is?
The Forex reserves of the Reserve bank were being rapidly run down as they were being used to prop up an artificially high exchange rate. This is not speculators fault. This is solely the fault of the Government for setting the rate of the NZ dollar too high.
Not true gosman. When demand for forex became heavy prior to the election, and started running down existing reserves, the Reserve Bank started selling forward contracts as an alternative to borrowing more foreign exchange. They could always borrow more forex, the country had a good credit rating.
The risk was the growing tab that the speculators were running up.
If you think you can beat the market over more than the short term you are dreaming. You should join your brethren in Venezuela or Cuba where there are multiple currency values as a result of the Government having no idea how to set a proper value.
Didn’t take you long to run out of argument did it gosman.
You have yet to advise why you think a Currency rate for the NZ Dollar set by Muldoon was beneficial to the NZ economy.
“You have yet to advise why you think a Currency rate for the NZ Dollar set by Muldoon was beneficial to the NZ economy.”
That would be like you advising when you stopped beating your wife.
I’ve made no comments about what the currency rate should be. Why would I, that’s not what this is about.
What was the issue with devaluing the dollar anyway? Why do you think a NZD value that was set by Muldoon was better for the economy than one set by Douglas?
Growing tab of what? Hint, its forex.
Unlike a broken clock, you’re not going to tell the correct time, Gosman…
You showed you don’t understand derivatives or counter party risk…
And you don’t understand simple FX related NZ fiscal history…
Please enlighten me then. What part don’t I understand?
Ok, so all the $NZ in existance come from the reserve bank. How are taxpayers paying for the devaluation? (The thing you still have not shown).
Well lets assume the devaluation netted the speculators $500 million. In your world the RB just magics up $500 million out of nowhere and gives it to them. Even in that scenario they’re getting $500 million while the rest of the taxpayers are getting nothing,… their wealth has increased at the expense of everyone else.
Their wealth has increased in relation to everybody else, yes. Not as an expense, no.
I’ll leave you to argue that with the economists who agreed it was the taxpayer who ultimately paid the tab. Brian Easton is one.
Again this is the fault of the Government for setting the value of the NZ dollar at a rate that was higher than the market stated it should be.
Of course at the time they fixed it, they were bound to be wrong in the future. Your really just saying always float your currency or expect the government to face occasional currency crises, right?
If you want to refer to somebody else claiming taxpayers footed a bill, then use a link.
Sure, this was one of my reading matter, pretty long but quite interesting ;
https://www.eastonbh.ac.nz/1989/09/from_run_to_float_the_making_of_the_rogernomics_exchange_rate_policy/
Easton tends to go more into the dry economics and the personalities involved which wasn’t really my interest.
The point at which Euston makes any claim about taxpayers footing any bill is discussing the govt deficit. Its highly debateable if this is tax payers paying, because as I said, the only cost is the amount the RBNZ issues out at their forex window (in the fixed exchange system). In practice govts dont tend to repay their deficits, they occasionally pay them down a bit until it causes an economic crisis (eg a recession) eventually.
Ultimately the summary of that discussion should be that moving to a floating exchange rate has completely removed a lot of pressures on the government.
Nothing illegal in the actions of speculators at the time of course. If you want prosecutions make a case for a law against it, going forward.
Only in your view Nic, I’m happy to take Eastons word for it. He’s no fool.
You’re a bit like gosman in the way you want to divert my argument. My position is clear enough. I wanted the speculators identified so we all knew who they were. In the pursuit of substantial personal gain they displayed a blatant disregard for the economic well being of the country and if/when any of them raised their heads again in the future we’d know where they were coming from… if we knew who they were.
There was also the point that big fortunes were made and we could have done with some solid reassurances that no-one in a privileged position was in on it.
Prosecutions weren’t expected, just an opening of the books. Public opinion was the only court they needed to face.
So when you asked when would the new government be going after them, you didn’t mean legally?
Nah, the sting was done and dusted by then. They could have started investigating the funding of the speculators and possibly found some illegal doings but I wasn’t bothered about that personally.
What wasn’t looked into much is the speculators themselves and where they got the cash to buy their forex. Some of them at least probably played some devious tricks to get in on the game. One rumour was of a financial institution raiding depositors funds, the truth of that I do not know.
What I expected (wanted) from the Govt was for them to essentially blacklist the participants from having access to any taxpayer money or government influence again. That would have been quite legal, and justified IMO.
It was the decision of the government prior to the 1984 election to hold the exchange rate at a higher level than the “market” thought was appropriate, and it was also that government’s decision to issue forex contracts. I suspect DH that you and Gosman are talking across each other. It seems quite simple to me that Muldoon made decisions that turned out to be wrong. At least some of the forward exchange contracts would have been needed to facilitate imports or exports. Any change in relative wealth does mean that there are winners and losers.
I do not recall a decision being public before the election from Labour that they would float the currency, but by the time the election was decided there may have been few options
Floating was always an option. It wasn’t the first preference however.
When you fix the currency you open up the possibility of a currency attack along the lines of what happened in 1984. The people betting against the Kiwi dollar’s value being correct are acting in an entirely rational manner. It is the Government who believes they know better than the market what the value should be that are acting irrationally.
and who are ‘the market’ Gosman?
People who use trade NZ Dollar in relation to other currencies. You know Banks, Exporters, Importers, Tourists, Government agencies.
‘the market’ are the owners of capital, the more you own the larger your impact…so in effect you are telling us we should allow the wealthy (of which NZ is a tiny proportion) to determine what our currency is worth in the casino where they are the house….you may think thats preferable to attempting to impart some control but I’d suggest that casinos are hardly a model for society.
Incorrrect. The Forex market is both the demand as well as the supply of capital. I can demand Forex without owning it. I can borrow (in fact many people do) against future earnings to get the Forex I require.
I suggest you read up on Steve Keens research regarding supply and demand.
I suggest you read up on the reality of the World rather than your fantasyland scenarios that you wish the World was like.
I have and that’s why I know capitalism to be delusional.
And Steve Keen’s research shows that the Supply and demand curve is a scatter graph.
Except YOU have convinced virtually noone (that I am aware of) of the benefits of your approach. When I challenge you on this you build some flimsy defense that it is all because of evil capitalists trying to sabotage your alternatives. You seemingly ignore the inconvenient fact that your alternatives are so fragile that they are seemingly easily stopped by a handful of people with power and money.
No, you’r ignoring that the system is owned by the people with power and money and that nothing happens without their say so.
Rich people fuck over democracy getting the laws tilted in their favour for their own benefit. This has been proven.
It hasn’t been proven. You just like to think it has. What is your solution to your ideas being messed over all the time and so easily by the way?
Neither do you understand what ‘the market’ is…or what runs ‘the market’…
FX market is nothing like as you describe it..
Your question does raise an interesting point of difference between many left wing and right wing people. A large number of left wing people seem to object to the very concept of the market determining the price of goods and services and believe that the true value is better determined by some other means (usually involving a centralised authority controlling the price). They question the motivations of people involved in a market as if they are trying to scam something and people need to be protected from them.
OMG! People use markets to further their own gains? Surely not?
Yes I know it is a terrifying concept.
so you don’t think it is fucked that people can make lots of money while creating nothing? That they extract the value of other people’s work?
You assume they have done no work. They in fact have done a great deal of work. They have ensured international trade can be maintained with minimal friction.
They do no work and produce no value therefore the only place that the value can come from is other people.
In other words, rich people are thieves.
They produce a huge amount of value. They lower transaction costs and reduce exchange risks in trading relationships.
by exacerbating currency fluctuations? How does increased unpredictability aid trade?
There was not increased unpredictability in this situation. In fact there was greater predictability because their actions virtually guaranteed the currency was devalued.
Even in a floating exchange rate situation speculators can reduce currency fluctuations.
Speculators can only reduce currency fluctuations if they bet wrong – i.e. selling before the price increases, or buying just before the price decreases.
But what they are guaranteed to do is increase the volume of trading, and if the wind direction is obvious to all they sell overvalued currencies thus even further lowering the overall demand, which makes the troughs much deeper.
You’re a market acolyte – you might have access to the volume of NZD sales prior to the dollar being floated. As it is, it fell 20%. Without the speculators, it might have only fallen 10 or 15%. Otherwise you’re arguing that decreased demand doesn’t change the equilibrium price.
No, speculators bring liquidity in to a market. Do you understand why liquidity is a good thing for efficient functioning of markets?
You do understand why larger volumes of water have bigger waves and swells?
Speculators CAN increase exchange rate fluctuations but they CAN also reduce it. What happens to the currency in a situation with no speculators if you are an export orientated economy reliant on products that have a highly seasonal demand and supply ?
Then your producers deal with those seasons, just as farmers deal with real seasons.
Because in order to reduce exchange rate fluctuations overall, the majority of speculative trading needs to be at a loss. So either your position is that speculators provide market stability by being mugs who lose money, or they make money by exacerbating fluctuations and market instability (thus being a barrier to trade in real goods and services people want).
It really is that simple. My position is that if speculators make money overall and on average, then they can only do so by betting in the direction that the market will go and therefore exacerbating market fluctuations. For speculators to actually stabilise the market they need to be bad at their jobs.
Either way, the existence of speculators means somebody is making money off chumps rather than actually producing something worthwhile to humanity.
The producers “deal” with it??? What does that mean?
You ignore what would happen. There would be extreme fluctuations of the price of the currency as there would be steep increases in the demand for it as Exports became available followed by equally steep falls when they no no longer were being supplied.
Speculators provide liquidity to smooth over such periods and enable regular purchases (and sellers) to buys and sell easily.
Exactly what I said.
If a market is seasonal, they don’t bloody need to be trading in that market in the off season. So producers diversify. Just as farmers sell lambs in one part of the year, grow feed for winter, shear in spring, and so on.
What happens to an exporter of products that have a highly seasonal aspect in an environment of market speculators? When nobody wants NZD successful speculators will put off buying until they think the market has tanked, then they will buy up and put off selling until demand has peaked. Then they will sell as much as possible at that price and tank the market further. When they buy and hold until demand reaches breaking point. So the producers are faced with bigger peaks and troughs than if speculators didn’t stick their beaks in.
Read and try and learn something McFlock
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/speculators-destabilizing.asp
lol the best your religious text can produced is “it has been argued”.
What a load of shit. Speculators don’t win by betting against the market trends, they win by pre-empting and thereby reinforcing those trends.
The liquidity argument relies on the idea that a market will dry up without speculators who have no interest in that market other than speculative trading. This is an example on the simplistic analyses that free-market capitalists rely on in order to make even a mediocre argument that their system is something other than parasitic.
I don’t really care whether you accept my argument. I am merely pointing out what the argument is. You can choose to believe the opposite. It bothers me not a jot.
lol
normally you come up with better bullshit than ‘not bovvered’. But if all you have to go on is the idea that more people bidding on something somehow doesn’t raise the price, I guess your cognitive dissonance can only go so far.
Oh you mean like Trump ??
lol…surely so, how confident are you that you’ll be the winner in a winner takes all game? especially when youre one of the smallest stake holders?
I rely on the safety in numbers approach. The more people involved the safer people are. This applies as much to markets as to anything.
and yet the proportion of ‘wealth’ is increasingly being accumulated by fewer and fewer….hows that safety in numbers work again?
It is not increasingly being accumulated by fewer and fewer at all. The World’s wealth is better distributed today than at any time in human history.
Actually, even over the last 200 years global income inequality has increased significantly.
So it can’t be better distributed today “than at any time in human history”.
I stand corrected. It is rapidly falling since 1988 and is the best we have had since the 1950’s.
“More detailed data from similar sources plots a continuous decline since 1988. This is attributed to globalization increasing incomes for billions of poor people, mostly in India and China.”
“Developing countries like Brazil have also improved basic services like health care, education, and sanitation; others like Chile and Mexico have enacted more progressive tax policies.[35]”
So it’s not all down to the market.
And “globalization” isn’t just currency speculators. As discussed above, speculators can act as barriers to international trade.
I never claimed it was. I just disputed that global inequality is getting worse. I was wrong about it being the best ever I admit but was correct how it is getting better.
Due to globalisation, progressive taxation, and increased access to basic services.
Speculators can be removed as they are a barrier to globalisation.
you are confusing income inequality with wealth inequality….wealth inequality is rising and is projected to continue
“The world’s richest people have seen their share of the globe’s total wealth increase from 42.5% at the height of the 2008 financial crisis to 50.1% in 2017, or $140tn (£106tn), according to Credit Suisse’s global wealth report published on Tuesday.
“The share of the top 1% has been on an upward path ever since [the crisis], passing the 2000 level in 2013 and achieving new peaks every year thereafter,” the annual report said. The bank said “global wealth inequality has certainly been high and rising in the post-crisis period”.
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/14/worlds-richest-wealth-credit-suisse
The rich band together against the poor. Always have done.
The motivations will be many and varied but ultimately the goal is to win…and that means everyone else loses. As said , not a model for cohesive society.
Far too many (both left and right) appear to consider ‘the market’ is some disinterested force when the reality is the polar opposite, so the question really should be do you want your lifestyle determined by an elected group of locals whom you can remove at regular periods or do you want it determined by some faceless individuals almost certainly not residing in your society who are engaged in some light entertainment?
and remember the house always wins.
You haven’t explained why anybody would lose from betting against an overvalued NZ Dollar. Moving towards a more sensible level would seem to be the best approach. If anybody is causing harm it is the Government trying to prop up a currency at a level higher than it should be.
a government trying to maintain an exchange rate at a ratio that serves the purposes of their economy is every bit as reasonable as allowing it to be controlled by the whim of non resident thrill seekers…..the (sad) reality is if we wish to trade we must play by the house rules so we should at least attempt to control the impact by not giving them a blank cheque and selecting our own stake.
It is not reasonable. It is entirely irrational that a Government can control the price of it’s currency in any meaningful way long term. It is why you have ridiculous situations where places like Venezuela have multiple values for their currency and why Zimbabwe no longer has it’s own one.
and what destroyed the currencies of Venezuela and Zimbabwe?
Stupid left wing inspired fiscal and monetary policies.
Corruption – the same thing that destroyed the soviet union and is presently destroying NZ.
Except we are rated one of the least corrupt nations on the planet.
and growing less so by the day….is the impact of free markets causal or correlation?
Not correct. Our rating on the corruption index recently improved.
on the corruption ‘perception’ index…did it?, must be because of the change of government eh.
capital flight…caused by poor policy decisions and underpinned by a lack of democratic rigour. What do you think would happen to NZ with its current policy settings if there was capital flight on a similar scale here?…exactly the same thing…so it is not the system its the quality of the decision making and the exposure…and make no mistake, we are exposed.
What would happen is the value of the NZ Dollar would fall dramatically making NZ exports more valuable and encouraging greater foreign investment as our assets became comparatively cheaper. that would in turn drive up the value of the dollar and lower interest as a Capital flight turned in to a Capital flood.
perhaps …in time, just as it may in Zimbabwe and Venezuela (may require some democratic reform first) … meanwhile we would be impacted every bit as much as them, with spiralling inflation, shortages, unemployment and population exodus…..our ‘market forces’ economy wont change that.
Ummm… no. They were impacted by those things BECAUSE they ignored market forces. It was not because they allowed themselves to be dictated by market forces. They were/are actively hostile to the market setting the price of their currency and they suffered the inevitable consequences.
ummm…they ignored market forces? So they (being Zimbabwe and Venezuela) misjudged how the owners of capital would react to their policies…and then doubled down.
So who runs things in Zimbabwe and Venezuela?…or NZ for that matter?
You seem to think that the Government can control EVERYTHING. Just as the government can’t control the weather it can’t control the price of goods and services in the economy. It might be able to influence the price but it can’t control it.
thats what I concluded as well….Zimbabwe and Venezuela are capitalist failures.
Indeed a Government could control everything (economy wise) in a closed economy, but I doubt virtually anyone would accept such constraint as that would impose, however an intelligent government (or society) would not hand over entire control of its economy to outside forces and would seek to retain as much control as practicable….that is not an open market economy but something more akin to the Scandinavian models (although even they have moved further right in recent years)…and that requires a more hands on approach by the state and less reliance on attracting offshore investment and more on supplying our needs onshore….especially in a world of diminishing resource.
“Except we are rated one of the least corrupt nations on the planet.”
An assessment that the Panama papers have proven was erroneous.
There was no indication of corruption involving NZ in the Panama papers.
Denial is the longest river in Africa eh.
A clever (unoriginal) quip is a poor substitute for facts.
If we accept that Gosman has done the reading necessary to assert that
then, depending on his definitions of ‘indication’ and ‘NZ’, this must simply be a rather remarkable coincidence.
I can understand Key’s motivation for claiming that NZ wasn’t a tax haven, but what’s Gosman?
@ Drowsy
I think we can safely presume that reading is not Gosman’s cup of tea. The cognitive dissonance from the conflict between reality and his far-right fabulism must be well nigh unbearable.
Stuart Munro
Good joke. Denial. And accolades to you in trying to keep a thread of rationality on this blog, a gold thread that shows up all the dim bulbs that have found a home here.
They are scamming us. It’s how they get a profit without producing any value.
They produce a huge value. You just fail to see it just as most of the World fail to see any benefit in the policies you promote.
No, they’re bludgers and produce no value. From Why we can’t afford the rich:
The rich get wealthy through ownership and not through production of value. Their income is fully unearned and thus is a theft upon the rest of us.
So has stated countless hard core Socialists throughout the past 150 years yet your ideology seems to fail far quicker and more comprehensively than any system involving rich people.
Piffle. The wealthy merely contrive not to acknowledge the consequences of their actions.
So Socialists acknowledge the consequences of their actions and that is why it fails ?
It’s not socialism that fails. It’s capitalism. Even in the 1970s when we started to see stagflation it was still capitalism that failed.
@ Gosman
Try to get it through your head that you are not an authority on socialism – or very much else come to that. The extravagance of your prejudices probably precludes you ever being one.
It clearly frightens you. Perhaps you should obsess about something over which you have more control.
I can quote Adam Smith as well – you know, the father of modern economics. In fact, all the classical economist were scathing of rentier capitalists and warned about them.
Now we have our entire socio-economic system based upon them and their greed.
And we are richer than ever before.
The morality of the situation completely escapes you doesn’t it Gosman.
If you want to paint it as a rational act it should also be rational that the victims of the speculation, aka the Government and us taxpayers, would want to enact some revenge over those who fleeced us of our taxes. I bet you’d squawk like a chook if that was to happen.
What morality is at stake here? Why is an overvalued exchange rate beneficial and something that has to be protected as a matter of morality?
The value of the currency is irrelevant to the conversation gosman. It’s the undermining of our election, the deliberate harm done to our economy and the looting of the taxpayer purse we’re talking about here,
The run on the dollar had little to no impact on the election in 1984. It barely got a mention and the incoming Government did not have an idea of the extent of the issue until AFTER they had won.
It had a very big impact on our election and electoral system gosman, it triggered the constitutional crisis for starters.
I think it was perfectly reasonable for us to demand to know who the speculators were. Then we’d have known who couldn’t be trusted with anything to do with our Government.
The constitutional crisis happened when Muldoon refused to follow the instructions of the incoming government. If you claim this was the crisis of democracy you acknowledge it didn’t impact the election. My understanding is that the currency crisis became known to the incoming government only after they won.
The constitutional crisis came about because Muldoon wanted to call the speculators bluff and refused to devalue. If there had been no speculation on the currency there would have been no crisis.
Douglas wanted to devalue to dollar by 20 %. This was common knowledge at the time. The currency traders were acting entirely rationally and legally by betting that an incoming government would carry out such a plan.
You have still to tell me why you think having a currency at a rate set by Muldoon was better for the NZ economy.
So the currency crisis didn’t impact the election then. And further there would have been no constitutional crisis if Muldoon had followed instructions.
Do you not want people acting in an entirely rational manner being involved with Government?
You might want to think that one through gosman, it’s not very rational.
It is entirely rational. If an incoming government has indicated that they would like to devalue the NZ Dollar by 20 % why would you not sell the NZ dollar and buy other currencies on the belief that you could make 20% return when it is devalued?
It’s very irrational. A thief can be acting rationally so you’d be quite happy for thieves to be involved with Government too?
They weren’t breaking any laws. Your whole arguments seems to rest on the basis you think what they did was immoral. I personally think that government trying to dictate prices of goods and services is immoral but I’m not calling for people involved in the Muldoon administration to be held accountable.
No they weren’t breaking any laws. A part of me can admit to a grudging admiration at their opportunism. But the part of me who is a taxpayer and voter also wants some utu, they did harm to the country and while they can keep their riches they should also be paying the full consequences of their actions.
No, who did harm to the country was Muldoon who foolishly attempted to keep the value of the exchange rate higher than the market was suggesting it should be. If you want Utu take it out on him.
Cripes gosman what more do you want, should they dig up the box and scatter his bones?
You do know there can be more than one baddie don’t you?
Muldoon more than paid for his part in this. He ended up being the fall guy; the patsy who everyone blamed. It’s the villains who got away scot-free with their plunder I was more concerned with.
No, Muldoon was the imbecile who thought he knew better and could dictate to the Market what the price for not only the NZ Dollar was but for virtually everything in NZ.
That is unclear Gosman, as rational (in economics) means with the ability to correctly predict the future. If that is desireable or not politically is unclear I think.
Given the incoming government had strongly hinted it believed the NZ Dollar was overvalued then it wasn’t much of a stretch to predict the future in this case.
I don’t think sociopathic behaviour, which is what you’re describing, is entirely rational.
How is it sociopathic behaviour?
It is an attack upon society for their own enrichment and that is sociopathic.
It is you who is claiming it is an attack on society. Personally I think Government trying to set prices is an attack on society so it is the Government that is being sociopathic following your own logic.
Capitalists, like all Parasites, suck the life out of their hosts.
And you don’t actually have a leg to stand on with your personal views as they’re completely contradicted by reality. The action that we’re talking about was a few people who bought and sold money to get richer without producing any value. That extra value had to come from somewhere and it, as always, comes from the workers.
In other words, those arseholes that you worship were just looking to be even bigger bludgers.
And once again Draco my ideas hold sway across the vast majority of the World and your ideas are only supported by a small number of fringe political extremists. Ever since University (over 25 years ago) I have seen people like you claim that Capitalism is eating itself and is on the verge of collapse. I, like you, am still waiting.
All the currency speculators did was to sell NZ Dollars and buy foreign currency on the (entirely understandable) logic that the Dollar was going to be devalued and therefore they would be able to buy back the NZ Dollars at a much cheaper rate. The reasons the Government (or more precisely the Reserve Bank) was running out of Foreign currency reserves was that they had to try and prop up the NZ Dollar at the rate they foolishly decided to set it at. If they had floated the dollar then there would have been little room for speculators to make money from such a situation.
Explain to me what benefits to the country would have keeping the NZ dollar at the higher rate pre-1984 have meant for the economy.
“I’m pleased to inform members and supporters that there has been a significantly
positive response to my offer to support a political party that continues to promote
the policy manifesto that The Opportunities Party assembled to contest the 2017
election.
The Board, therefore, has decided to put on hold its plan to deregister TOP as a
political party to give us time to evaluate the responses and specifically to
evaluate how TOP may evolve as a political party.
In order that TOP is given the best chance of continuing, it’s imperative that we
successfully hold our AGM on Monday July 30th. To this end the Board has changed the
quorum rule for the AGM from a minimum of 50 members to 20 members and if this is
not achieved the quorum for the subsequent adjourned meeting from 25 members to 10
members.
We expect to be in a position to announce the results of our deliberations over the
future of the Party during August.”
Take the hint TOP!
I humbly have a suggestion for one of the writers on The Standard to tackle for a discussion piece…Labour antisemitism hysteria, Is it out to get Jeremy Corbyn out?
Guest Post?
Adrian, I am pleased to say that the good folk over on Kiwi Blog came to a general consensus that the charges being leveled by the likes of Margaret Hodge are without merit, and that Jeremy Corbyn’s criticism of the Israeli state is not anti-Semitic.
Nearly every one of the posters—except for me and a couple of others—was extremely opposed to Corbyn and Labour, but they were not so craven or so dishonest as to endorse the smears of the Blairite faction.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/07/three_jewish_newspapers_claim_corbyn_poses_existential_threat.html/comment-page-1#comment-2267113
Well obviously no one at the Guardian has got that message, they have gone all ‘daily mail’ in their hysterical and relentless attacks on Corbyn.
I would have thought progressives in NZ would have been far most interested in this story rather than the unending stories on Trump/Russia, as this is what the liberal establishment looks like when it is under a real threat from a real progressive, they will stop at nothing to stop it and play real dirty.
I have always said Corbyn should have purged the neoliberal cancer from UK Labour when he had that initial wave of popularity, the media couldn’t have any more negative on him and his project back then anyway, so really he had nothing to lose…unfortunately I think he probably thought that he could actually work with them, turns out that they believe in their ideology just as strongly as he does his.
Well obviously no one at the Guardian has got that message, they have gone all ‘daily mail’ in their hysterical and relentless attacks on Corbyn.
Which underlines my point, Adrian, viz., that even the most extreme right wing people are not so dishonest as to call Corbyn an anti-Semite. The Blairite rump, which the Guardian shills for, has no such scruples.
For a moment there I thought I saw ‘the good folk’ over on Kiwi Blog. Slim pickings I would have thought!
I’d prefer the company of even the most zealous poster at Kiwi Blog over the likes of Margaret Hodge or Hillary Benn. The Blairite rump of the Labour Party not only has no public credibility, it has no limits to its depravity.
“…I humbly have a suggestion for one of the writers on The Standard to tackle for a discussion piece…Labour antisemitism hysteria, Is it out to get Jeremy Corbyn out..?”
Are the neoliberal Blairite MPs in Labour willing to stoop to the lowest and most vile accusations imaginable in their liberal grab bag of identity politics smears to attack Corbyn?
Yes.
Are they aided and abetted by a privileged media class who still see a 1990s bourgeois liberalism married to managerialist late capitalism as the only possible teleological direction for society?
Yes.
No need for a post.
@Adrian Thornton, I’d been keen for that. They have tried everything else to get him out.
The media are looking to follow a distractive meme, Israel go straight for the antisemitic line when their violent ways and treatment of occupied territorities is questioned. That’s when they aren’t ignoring the world.
Perhaps a post could expand to the similar tactics the alt right use to defend their dissemination of facist views….the ” but it’s free speech” meme.
Maybe the post could grow like Blips list of each area and the distraction/diversion tactics at play in cohorts with the media…who stopped being the 4th estate decades ago.
@ tc, Yes a lot (but certainly not all) of the negativity in the press does seem too come back to his position on Israel/Palestine, Corbyn was one of the very few politicians in the west with the fucking balls to openly call out Israel on their slaughter of unarmed protesters on the Gaza prison fence…and look at the reaction.
“alot (but certainly not all) of the negativity in the press does seem too come back to his position on Israel/Palestine”
… the press can’t afford to talk about anything else.
Most especially not Corbyn’s actual economic or social policies, because The Press knows that when people actually hear those policies clearly explained they actually support them, as was proven when Corbyn and momentum hit the streets and managed a stirling result despite the so called civilized liberal press.
What would the two cops in this video have
done if black kids acted like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeETEoNfOg
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39896
Follow up to, comments on, a post about the governments lack of initiative. This one is about the advantages of having full employment as a government policy.
Pensioners are the largest cost for Work and Income, and yet their basic needs are still unmet.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/362919/number-of-hardship-grants-given-to-over-65s-increases-50-percent-in-5-years
Imagine if they are renting. Yet still not much interest from the Kiwibuild for massive roll out of state rentals. From the figures presented the other day of TS looks like 300 extra only over a decade in spite of a huge increase in population and increasing inequality.
Saw this the other day too, elderly are being kicked out of a camping ground, maybe with many people unable to find or afford a cheap (they pay $200 a fortnight incl utilities) rental in Auckland they relax the by laws… Sounds like a pretty good deal they will not be able to find anywhere else, pushing more people into poverty if they are evicted.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/07/elderly-parakai-campground-residents-told-to-get-out.html
Come to think of it, why doesn’t KB target pensioners? Given the demographic trend it would seem a better idea than flushing money down motel drains.
https://twitter.com/AntiFascistAkl/status/1023668547807981568
Looks like Aotea Square on the twitter image, but the posters/flyers say TBC
And I’ll go and stay as long as it’s peaceful.
Oh. OK. read the blurb under a poster. There’s a rally, music and speakers at Aotea square at 5.30pm, Friday. then the demo will move off to protest the Fashist event.
I’m in for the rally at Aotea Square “to celebrate the power and strength of diversity and tolerance”.
Interesting clarification from a grumpy old man here: https://www.top.org.nz/an_open_invitation_to_form_a_political_party_with_principles_gareth_morgan
Kinda reveals why morphing from the Gareth First Party into something consensual never happened, eh? The political strategy he deployed is now clear: my way or the highway, with democracy dangled as a carrot at the end of an extremely long stick.
Effectively, it’s a contractual design. It locks participants into support of a pre-determined policy mix. They sign up to the party to promote that programme. You could call it intelligent design since the originator is clever enough, but top-down decision-making ain’t the zeitgeist, Gareth. Participatory democracy is.
Yes, Morgan claimed TOP was neither left nor right, but based on evidence-based policy excellence. But his TOP-down, antidemocratic approach shows an MO that leans right.
It is more explicit this time round with TOP invitation mkII
What an absolute tragedy and sounds like an 11 year old dead.
Hope they get to the bottom of what caused that bus crash, early on it is looking like a mechanical failure.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/362926/fatal-mt-ruapehu-bus-crash-passenger-recalls-chaotic-scenes-everyone-was-just-trying-to-get-out
URGENT: Mike Treen kidnapped by Israel
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/07/30/urgent-mike-treen-kidnapped-by-israel/
Silence is consent
An Urgent open letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs
Kia Ora Gaza – July 30, 2018
In any other circumstances if any New Zealand citizen was illegally detained in International Waters. It would be all over the News cycle. And the Foreign Affairs Minister and Acting PM both, would be expected to make a statement.
Unlawfully boarding a boat in international waters and kidnapping its occupants is called Piracy. Is the international community watching this? If so what are they going to do about this unlawful act?
Thanks for that Jenny. Maybe the lovely smiling Jacinda will say something.
Maybe…..
Only in Israel
The violent IDF thugs who invaded and occupied the Al Asqa Mosque last week, used as an excuse for the their actions, accounts of Palestinian youths throwing rocks at the estimated one thousand fundamentalist Jewish settlers who had tried to force their way into the Al Asqa compound.
What if the events were reversed?
What if Jewish youths threw stones at Palestinian fundamentalists encroaching on their property?
What if heavily armed Islamist forces used this as an excuse to invade the Synagogue and violently attack the worshipers?
They would be condemned around the world as terrorists and fascists, no matter what their alleged motive was.
…..Earlier, more than 1,000 Israeli settlers forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy protection of Israeli police.
Related comments:
“This is one major act of terrorism that won’t get any coverage in the Western media.”
Watched a new documentary on Netflix last night on how the rush to market of new medical devices have led to serious adverse effects. Doco looks into the highly dodgy FDA approval process and compromised bureaucrats.
https://www.netflix.com/nz/title/80170862
Coincidentally, Natrad aired this … https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018655786/calls-to-beef-up-reporting-of-adverse-drug-side-effects
…which discusses drug reactions and their gross under reporting.
Natrad, especially Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon, have done some seriously good work on highlighting NZ’s own scandalous treatment of women impacted by surgical mesh.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018638962/is-there-still-a-case-for-surgical-mesh
FDA/CDC/DOH et al…deeply conflicted and compromised…and directly responsible for an unfathomable number of deaths and injury…
Approvals process for ‘drugs’ is more stringent than for biologicals…both are now ‘fast tracked’ …for the public good of course…the approvals processes are forcast into corporate earnings/profit report…
Biologicals were not mentioned in the article about reporting/capturing/tracking of adverse events…
Putting a piece of wire into a fallopian tube on the reliance that it would inflame it and then scar over is something that shouldn’t have made it off the drawing board.
Could you be more specific as to what contraceptive device you are referring to?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essure
Looking back at the weekend political events and msm coverage of these, a few things stick out for me as being a little surprising.
As mickysavage noted in the first sentence of his post on Bridges and his cheerleaders, the lead up to the National Party Conference started with a plethora of fawning articles by, for example, Stacey Kirk, Audrey Young and Clare Trevett on Simon Bridges.
As the weekend wore on, Kirk and Young continued their ra ra articles, while Trevett seemed to become bored or turned off by late afternoon on Saturday and then produced two very entertaining pieces. Links if you missed them:
“Nats one bride short of a wedding” – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12097119
“PM Jacinda Ardern gatecrashes Simon Bridges’ party” – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12097422
However, there was one longterm Herald “editorial writer and columnist” – and Key sycophant – who did not join the cheerleaders. John Roughan.
No, Roughan did not have a road to Damascus and write a turnaround re the Nats. He just ignored them and the whole Annual Conference event – and wrote an opinion piece on the events that happened one year ago that led to Jacinda Ardern becoming the leader of the Labour Party entitled “A year on from Andrew Little’s game changing decision”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12096344
Normally I bypass Roughan’s columns but that was too intriguing not to click. And I was bit surprised. In effect it is a summary and timeline of the events that happened up to and immediately after Little’s decision to step aside.
I know some Greens here will not agree with some of what Roughan has written, but IMHO it is a reasonably fair and accurate summation – especially coming from someone of Roughan’s usual persuasion.
Here are his first few paras – and then his final conclusion.
[WARNING – You really need to read the rest in between as any comments on these extracts alone will be well out of context.]
Yes, there is an extraneous ‘last’ in the last para in the article. And no, I am not trying to drum up clicks for the Herald, but it is an intriguing article considering the author.
It is tradition now to have a cute animal picture in the media. This is Scoop’s and Gordon Campbell’s image for the National conference. A sweet little guinea pig. I’d vote for this one! I just don’t like it’s chances – it looks naive and somehow feminine (how do male g.p.s differ from females) but I think it might get roasted if up against hot cookies like Bennett, Collins and Adams etc.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/
Viv Rickards on RNZ. Fuck he sounds like a weasel and clearly fits right in with his MSD colleagues.
Have a listen and try to figure out what exactly his position is.
Who is he and is he related to that violent bent cop?
Brother
Oh Christ! Quelle surprise
Viv Rickard ……. Deputy Chief Exec Service Delivery MSD.
Could it be the very same Viv?
Punish punish beat beat, shunt sideways.
I used to wonder why the culture in MoBIE was so toxic.
Maybe the problem is actually within the SSC and the SSC alone.
This is real 3rd World shit
!!
Viv spoke as if it were his dedecision
Ae!
Btw, there probably won’t be too much concern or comment on “16” even though it’s this sort of shit that the new gubbaamint will be pushing the proverbial uphill in their undertaking to make ‘change’.
And they haven’t yet come to realise there is more than one way to skin a cat (one that’s intent on scratching your eyes out)
“Guns are fun”
Borat spoof ruins kids gun fun
“Students will no longer be able to hold or shoot army guns at school under new government guidelines.”
Adele Redmond – Stuff.co.nz, July 30, 2018
http://int.search.myway.com/search/video.jhtml?n=784865ef&p2=%5EBXZ%5Exdm012%5ETTAB02%5Enz&pg=video&pn=1&ptb=588D7DF5-9CD5-495D-8989-307886F67516&qs=&searchfor=Video+of+Sacha+Baron+Cohen%27s+Gun+Spoof+YouTube&si=google_engremarketing&ss=sub&st=tab&tpr=sbt&trs=wtt&vidOrd=1&vidId=QkXeMoBPSDk
Good morning The Am Show time to see reality I can not see national winning in 2020 .
Duncan if you don’t care about the future of your Mokopunas well yea lets just keep pouring carbon into our environment carbon taxes work I seen the traffic jams decrees with my own eyes. What do you think about TVNZ underarm bowl on Corin Dan from the Nation shifted to 930 pm . That’s sneaky
The MH370 plane going missing there were two people on that plane that owned some very important patents on that plane ???????????????????.
All these wild fires and the sad loss of life we need to pay Papatuanuku more respect keep vegetation away from building in fire prone places some places you mite have to have controled burns to burn the fuel that acumalates in these forest that have had wild fires from the beginning come up with systems to build communitys so they can survive fire its all in the design respecting Papatuanuku means we plan for the worst from her and design to minimize the risk of a natural disaster.
Butterbean you are doing good with your boot camps if we taxed sugar hard we would have half the problem solved A lot of our people bodys can not cope with sugar this fact is well documented.
Aotearoa is paradise compared to some other countrys but it still need big improvements Ka kite ano P.S on to my favorite charity
Good evening Newshub OUR business confidence will be affected by trump going around Papatuanuku trying to bully and intimidate everyone that’s a fact.
trumps good good statement it’s going to be good for his net worth. I see steve who has being going around Europe trying to reinvent himself trying to boost his profile and the neo libreal Capitalist in Europe I totally ignored this fact and he will go away
There you go some people are taking advantage of Aotearoa’s soft immigration laws big time the last government turned a blind eye they were pandering to the wealthy employers keeping wages low who cares if the displace common poor person .
Zimbabwe is having there election kia kaha Eco Maori know’s that the next government will be a government that delivers a better future for all Zimbabwean’s I see all of AFRICA has a free trade agree thats the way you know what I have said only Africans know whats best for all Africans not foreigners. Ka kite ano P.S my time on my computa was wrong the sandflys well if the are busy trying to intimadated Eco Maori our mokopunas won’t be hassled by the muppets
You see tangata Eco Maori is not just teaching tangata in Aotearoa about how there is one law for the wealthy and another for the common poor tangata and that the wealthy laugh that the poor common tangata are honest Eco Maori is teaching All of the common tangata of Papatuanuku of there SHAM . Ana to kai ka kite ano P.S the time on my computa corrected its self WTF