Jacqui Dean looks to be just another M.P. compromised by her support of the alcohol industry……
‘When questioned by Māori Party MP Tariana Turia, on why she was unwilling to take the same prohibitory line on smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol as she took on BZP, Ms Dean said Alcohol and tobacco have been with our society for many, many years; It is estimated that alcohol-related conditions account for 3.1% of all male deaths and 1.41% of all female deaths in New Zealand.
Dean’s Otago electorate is also home to approximately 5% of New Zealand’s wine production, described by the New Zealand Wine Growers Association as a new but aggressively expanding wine area, which is now New Zealand’s seventh largest wine region.’
There are so many ways that our standard of living and health is being decimated by the government and Treasury introduced neolib and freemarket systems. Alcohol has been around for ever but there was so much reaction about its affects in early NZ that it was banned, then reintroduced with control over hours, then after neolib some outlets could open 24/7. Alcohol can ruin people's will to work and stick to the tasks of their role in life, it also spreads to affect the family who adapt to the eccentricities of the addicted one, and the bad affects continue down generations.
So alcohol in excess taking us down. Further down the post Treetop 4.1 talks about micro businesses failing, and the bad affect on those trying to cope with that. I think small business failure is very high -within three years most have either gone bust, or found it was an expensive lesson as to what they shouldn't do, or they sell out, probably at a loss. No way should people draw on their Kiwisaver. It is interesting that Bill English made serious throat-clearing noises about people saving to impress the old-fashioned ignorant of economics, or old people for whom that idea worked until we had National hyperinflation. But actually the economy feeds off people spending, not people saving, and it keeps many so short on wages they have to borrow to get through till the next payday, so there is business profit to the lenders of that money which can not be more than 100% on the actual loan. Kind eh. So National lie about money and people still soak it up as long the end is blaming the poor for their circumstances.
She made it sound like the last 9 years. But I guess itll the standard nat method of tell a big porky defend it for a bit then back away quietly knowing that those less engaged will repeat the lie for them
You're onto National bwaghorn. I hadn't actually understood the whole process. But doesn't work for Labour. Promising thousands of houses in three years must have been industry-hype, but the Minister concerned with those funny-business people needs to be wary; these people are not your friends, and you are like innocent Mole going through the Wildwood with evil weasels watching, smirking with their pocket calculators red hot.
Since the Tea Party receded into history, then got Trumped, the latest hot trend in rightist politics in the US seems to be the one pioneered by an online anonymist: Q.
The insurgent QAnon movement is causing headaches for the Republican Party leadership, who appear to be unwilling to condemn the group for fear of losing much-needed votes, but are also unwilling to give direct credence to a conspiracy theory-driven movement that is loaded with political baggage.
For those who haven’t gone down the rabbit hole themselves, the broad QAnon narrative is a classic “new world order” conspiracy theory with an interactive and online twist. In QAnon world, the whole planet is controlled by a cabal of satan-worshipping pedophiles. Many QAnon adherents bizarrely believe that this cabal tortures children to extract a substance known as adrenochrome, which they purport (incorrectly) contains hallucinogenic and anti-aging properties. This cabal supposedly controls everything worth controlling, including politicians, the media, and entertainment.
Trump is believed to be battling this cabal with the help of a group of military intelligence officials known as “Q Team”. The QAnon faithful hold that these military intelligence officials are releasing coded messages about the operation to defeat the cabal on simple messageboards. The posts from the anonymous entity known as “Q” started on the infamous 4chan board, but now Q posts exclusively on 8kun. QAnon followers believe that by decoding these imageboard posts, they can learn the truth of this dramatic, secret war of good vs. evil.
At his Park Avenue penthouse — 62 floors high and with a sparkling nighttime view of the Manhattan skyline — billionaire Peter Thiel last fall introduced to his friends an immigration hardliner who he would back with over $1 million to try and transform the Republican Party. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/7/27/21333636/peter-thiel-kris-kobach-kansas-senate-primary
Jesus would be thrilled that his followers are becoming so successful in infiltrating the US political establishment.
While QAnon followers aiming for national offices tend to draw the most attention, QAnon followers are also running for state offices. There are currently 12 known state-level candidates who have endorsed or given credence to the conspiracy theory or promoted QAnon content.
Looks like history repeating itself. Conservatives have been there & done that before, almost two centuries ago.
The first third party in the United States, the Anti-Masonic Party, was dedicated to the proposition that freemasons were running a shadow government and were secretly plotting to control the world. Though the Anti-Masonic Party was short lived, at their peak in 1833 they controlled 10.5% of the House of Representatives.
There's a lot of truth in the Q conspiracy– America *is* controlled by a cabal of crooks– but their solution (Trump) is wishful thinking in the extreme.
Looks like a sustained attempt by the chemical industry to poison nature is coming to an end, finally, here.
Between 1962 and 1987, the site was used by Ivon Watkins, later Ivon Watkins Dow, which mademost of the 2,4,5-T used in New Zealand at the Paritutu site. A byproduct of 2,4,5-T is dioxin, a known cause of cancer. Agent Orange, made of 2,4,5-T, was used in the Vietnam War as a defoliant.
Ivon Watkins Dow later became Dow Agrosciences, which became Corteva Agriscience in June last year following the 2017 merger between industrial giants DuPont and Dow Chemicals.
Climate Justice Taranaki spokeswoman Catherine Cheung said Corteva must decommission and remediate the site. "We don’t want to have contaminated land. It needs to be done properly.’’
I live just below the bottom of those photos in the report, around half a kilometer from their boundary, just far enough away to be free from paranoia.
If they sell their huge unused land-holding and subdivide, it may become the choice real estate option in New Plymouth: particularly the ocean view side, a millionaire's row in waiting. I'm right on the city edge, look out the back window to the countryside across the way & mountain above. Native frogs in my back yard come up from the stream in between suburb & countryside – glad to see the last of the agri-poisoners!
Dennis, taking in the photo, I envy you your home location, and I join with you in celebrating the exit of the blot on the lovely landscape. I hope the land is restored to health.
My cousin was born with a cleft palate which possibly comes from being exposed to the chemicals at the plant (her parents lived near there around the turn of the 1970's). The first 20 years of her life was spent in and out of hospital getting it fixed up.
Weir says the generally available statistics reveal 2000 businesses are liquidated every year in this country. “Around 45,000 [businesses] start in New Zealand yearly but about the same disappear. So while the number of businesses that officially fall into liquidation is relatively small relative to start-ups, most simply give up and disappear for reasons only the owners will know.”
When you really look at the stats you have to wonder why the politicians are so caught up on the idea that its small business that drives NZ.
This is classic Crusher. She's talking to the deep base who might not bother voting, not to someone who's been laid off because of covid.
Even if she gets to be PM (highly doubtful), I doubt the policy will start many more businesses than she crushed cars. $20K is just seed capital, the prospective business person then has to go and get a bank to support them, so has to have a pretty good business plan. You'd be looking at $100K finance package for a business that's going to do as well or better than wages. If the business plan is good enough to get the banks attention, then it wouldn't matter if the $20K was in cash or KiwiSaver, it's still an asset and the bank might prefer it being in KiwiSaver.
It effectively liquidates part of the person's Kiwisaver so it becomes an asset the bank now has access to. Pretty clear who would benefit from such a move.
In many cases it will be $20k into the pocket of some franchise owner – while the poor 'mark' who bought the franchise, will drive themselves slowly insane trying to scratch a living under impossible conditions.
They gave an example of a plumber who has been laid off. How stupid is that. They would only have been laid off because there is not enough work yet they are supposed to risk their retirement savings competing with their former boss in the same market.
And most plumbers aren't employees once they get past their training anyway. There's a shortage of them (this seems to be a recurring issue) and they tend to be well paid and independent.
Are you suggesting that people should not even try? I know you are quoting your % from an article you have read once in the past, but I'd really like to know what type of business/venture makes up that 70%.
Its not a question of not trying but accepting that things aren't going to get better simply because someone became self-employed on a down in the market.
But we do have to consider that National governs for the rich and those rich people are looking at those funds and thinking of how nice it would be if they were in their pockets instead of those of the poor. And so National invents some BS rhetoric that sounds good but will only work to shift those funds from the poor to the rich.
A 0% interest loan from the government would do it. Throw in freely available mentors and ongoing financial assistance (still at 0%) until its an obvious make/break and we'll probably get some good businesses going.
In fact, all business loans should be direct from government and be at 0% with no fees.
Mainstreamers inhabit a psychosocial head-space: normalcy. Representative democracy allows them to impose their hegemony on the rest of us via the binary format of National & Labour, here.
As Laing puts it: "The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one’s mind, is the condition of the normal man. Society highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal. Normal men have killed perhaps 100,000,000 of their fellow normal men in the last 50 years."
Mainstreamers exhibit their normalcy by empowering their political reps, trained by the education system, so the cause and effect relation between that and the hundred million of them who got eliminated in consequence, during the first half of the 20th century, never becomes clear to them. Normalcy is a fog in culture that persists.
Those who transcend normalcy see through the fog to the deeper reality that encompasses all. The sleep of normalcy Laing refers to above can then lead to awakening from the normal. BLM, woke, etc.
The Laingian concept of hypersanity, though modern, has ancient roots. Once, upon being asked to name the most beautiful of all things, Diogenes the Cynic (412-323 BCE) replied parrhesia, which in Ancient Greek means something like "uninhibited thought," "free speech," or "full expression."
Diogenes used to stroll around Athens in broad daylight brandishing a lit lamp. Whenever curious people stopped to ask what he was doing, he would reply: ‘I am just looking for a human being’ — thereby insinuating that the people of Athens were not living up to, or even much aware of, their full human potential.
Following Laing & the mid-20th century human potential movement, hippies became the spearhead of a cultural transformation that swept through western civilisation. Psychedelic drugs were used to decondition us. Normalcy evaporated.
Then a younger generation said "Nah! Too weird." They went back to the future via Thatcher, Reagan & Rogernomics. Normal transmission resumed. Good little consumer citizens, doing what they're told. When Diogenes was asked
where he came from, he replied: "I am a citizen of the world" (cosmopolites), a radical claim at the time, and the first recorded use of the term "cosmopolitan."
Some folks see the big picture, naturally. Some need intervention, such as from psychedelics, then they see it. The pandemic is producing intervention in normalcy, and imposing it on the masses. Only survivors will make the transition and become hypersane. The contagion curve shows no sign of levelling off.
The culling process (shown by the death numbers) remains a slow build. Gaia is patient, tolerant of slow learners – but eventually they will run out of time. Normal is the loser's option…
It may get recycled somewhat during the election campaign. Voters are meant to be cognizant that Labour or National will win. Trouble is, when they get so busy copying each other all the time, poor normal folk get bewildered and find it hard to identify the winner. In normalcy, I mean. The PM seems an abnormal blip on their mental horizon, so expect them to spot her as a winner.
Of course, politics is a contest of ideas and the general election is the Olympic Games of (NZ) politics. I wonder who will win the gold glitter this time. Life is all but an enduring competition trying to outdo your fellow humans. In the end, you die anyway. Such is life.
"The pandemic is producing intervention in normalcy, and imposing it on the masses."
Yes. People respond in lots of different ways to being forced awake. I had had some hopes for NZ that we would step up a bit more on this front. Maybe that is happening it's just not being reflected in the mainstream institutions yet. Is suspect that every community now has more people preparing and future proofing their lives. The election will be telling. Which way will NZ jump?
So JLR tables/doesn’t table 65,000 Nat donation transactions and details one Inner Mongolian donation of 150,000 dollars from a Chinese company with no known connections to NZ and not a word from the media that I have heard.
Does the deafening silence mean the media is actually doing a bit more research or just ignoring it?
Weren't there already media stories months ago about that donation? Which would be why he was safe to mention it without triggering the threatened lawyering.
“By its actions the Green Party has demonstrated to voters that its word cannot be trusted. That is fatal.”
“When a party can’t keep its word or commitments to its government partners, freely given, voters are entitled to view that party as untrustworthy,’ Peters said.
Ironic from Peter's now he is sabotaging the Coalitions deals.
NZ first will be last at the election.
Peter's is making a bigger Dick of himself every day the polls reflect his demise.He is out of touch with his messaging no ones listening.Back to the past ideas.
I wonder if the govt considered charging all returnees for meals. Food is something they would have had to pay for if not in isolation, so a charge of say $50 for for 3 meals a day would not seem unreasonable.
Interesting there hasn't been too much comparison with paying for returnees accom + food + power with how much benes or min wage workers make and have to live on.
All things considered, $285/day for the taxpayer to cover MIQ costs isn't that high.
That's accommodation, food, security, army costs, healthcare and the rest of whatever additional costs there are.
I have often opined on Twitter that while Citizens shouldn't be charged for returning, I'm not sure we should apply the same logic to permanent residents unless they are ordinarily resident in NZ.
Permanent Residents are citizens of another country. I'm not sure of just how many PR visas have been issued to people who then promptly buggered off overseas, but if I'm reading DIA figures correctly, it looks like 500k PR visas issued in the last 5 years alone. I can't find figures for prior to 2015. If the last 5 years is anything to go by, that's a lot of PRs coming back to NZ after they haven't set foot in NZ for many years since they got their PR visa.
It'd be nice to have the PR visa time bound requiring people to apply for citizenship after a set period like many other nations do.
The Ministry of Health is planning to fast-track the approval process for a Covid-19 vaccine, and won't rule out offering a supplier indemnity from any potential claims resulting from its use.
I have viewed a number of things online of late that bring vaccines into question.
These are 3 main ones below.
Kennedy said “it’s not hypothetical that vaccines cause injury, and that injuries are not rare. The vaccine courts have paid out four billion dollars” over the past three decades, “and the threshold for getting back into a vaccine court and getting a judgment – [the Department of Health and Human Services] admits that fewer than one percent of people who are injured ever even get to court.”
He mentioned another reason not to trust blindly any company currently producing vaccines in the United States. Each one of the four vaccine producers “is a convicted serial felon: Glaxo, Sanofi, Pfizer, Merck.”
“In the past 10 years, just in the last decade, those companies have paid 35 billion dollars in criminal penalties, damages, fines, for lying to doctors, for defrauding science, for falsifying science, for killing hundreds of thousands of Americans knowingly.”
Kennedy Jr is a long-term peddler of misinformation, misrepresentation and all-around bullshit that's just opportunistically using the increased interest in vaccines to grab more clicks. FFS, Kennedy is still a supporter of Andrew Wakefield, the proven fraudster willing to falsify data that played games with vulnerable kids' health apparently just to line his pockets from lawsuits. Kennedy's own family strongly repudiates his views and actions.
If a vaccine becomes available for use in New Zealand, it will have already undergone field trials involving tens of thousands of volunteers that will be very closely monitored. Because of our COVID-free status, we're likely to be a long way down the list to get supplies, so there will have been millions of people already vaccinated elsewhere in the world. So, there's very little to be concerned about here in NZ.
If it weren't for the gratuitous risk the unvaccinated pose to the very few people that have genuine medical reasons to not get particular vaccines, I'd be very much in favour of idiots sucked in by anti-vax bullshit to just let the disease cull themselves out of the herd
It seems most likely that covid vaccines will be released on scale because of the pandemic and bypass some of the usual processes in developing meds. This is likely to cause harm. It's ok to have a conversation about that potential harm and what it means. Downplaying that or out right denying is unhelpful, and will fuel the other side. Either side of the pro-anti debate taking dogmatic or fundamentalist positions won't serve us.
In this case, The Chairman is mindlessly posting clickbait by a repeatedly debunked proven bullshit artist without applying even the most rudimentary credibility checking. In this case, Kennedy is full of misrepresentations, distortions, partial truths and all the other tricks of those with intent to mislead.
It really gets tiresome seeing the same misinformation posted again and again. A brief search of something like anti-vax debunked brings up tons of articles examining the claims made and showing the actual facts of the matter. It's very basic level "ability to assess information credibility".
Personally I'm done with coddling the feels of idiots that see something then spread it around mindlessly. That kind of bullshit just helps the malicious among us get traction.
As for determining genuine medical reason, there are things like allergies to components, being immunosuppressed, previous reactions etc etc. Basic skills in navigating around information sources and assessing their credibility finds it very easily. Here's the CDC brief guidelines:
Two anti-vaxers that I know of for sure. Three more I don't know for sure either way, but are susceptible to the same bullshit clusters of beliefs and misinformation, and inability to try to fact-check, that seem to go hand-in-hand with anti-vax, so they're probables. I've lost count of how many have expressed concerns or hesitancy and then been pointed to accurate information, and then gone on to embrace vaccination.
Given my social circles and family tend to be in facts/evidence oriented occupations that value skepticism and consideration of alternatives highly, I consider those numbers of anti-vaxxers and hesitants fairly high.
My point here would be that ridicule and ostracisation is radicalising people away from science. I know these communities quite well, not from an outside, finger pointing, we can force you to change pov, but they're just normal parts of my community. Telling them they're stupid doesn't change them, it entrenches their views.
NZ is on the cusp of a number of radicalisations, and we really should be paying attention to this. Treating people who have concerns about the covid vaccine like shit won't make them more likely to accept the need for vaccination.
Myself, at the start of the pandemic I started off thinking a covid vax would be one of the few I might need in my remaining lifetime. Now I'm more cautious, not because of conspiracy theories, but because I can see it will be rushed and that there will be a disability cost and that we will vaccinate before having a good understanding of the disease, and pro-mandate people arguing that disability doesn't matter can in fact get fucked. If you want to solve the problem of lowered uptake, then address the valid concerns and support them being resolved in other ways. People mostly want to feel safe and secure, attend to that and it will get easier.
Anyone that has a genuine medical reason not to get vaccinated is one of the people vaccine programmes are trying to protect. But if you are genuinely one of those people, and you still choose to amplify anti-vax messages, I can take a darwinian view of that. I'm just disgusted on behalf of those with genuine medical reason not to be vaccinated that are put at unnecessary risk by that kind of stupidity.
As for valid concerns, one of the anti-vaxers main techniques is to take an absolutely miniscule number of problems and blow them way out of proportion. Furthermore, of the very very small number of reported reactions, a tiny proportion of those have any long-term effects and the vast majority fall into the category of short term discomfort.
Then there's the attribution problem where many of the long term problems blamed on vaccination aren't in fact due to vaccination, or at worst were an underlying latent problem that would very likely have occurred at some time due to illness, but the mild immune system stimulation that usually accompanies an effective vaccine happened to be the trigger.
I can't be arsed actually trying to put a number to it, but I'd guess the chances are pretty good that for any rural resident the drive to and from the clinic is way riskier than the vaccination.
you still haven't said who decides what is genuine. Is it the MoH? My GP? The CDC? Who? And how do they determine that? It's fine if you can't answer that, but having faith in an ideological position isn't good enough for health policy.
I'm not amplifying anti-vax messages, I'm saying that anti-vax and pro-mandatory vax position are both problematic and making the situation worse. That you can't tell the difference between what I am talking about and antivaxers basically supports my point there.
Exactly weka. Any medical intervention has risk attached and should only be pursued after careful thought. Both my children had most vaccinations but their are enough cases of damage to make you look carefully at what you are exposing your children too. To say we should blindly follow what we we are told is the right path has led to pain and guilt for some parents. Dogmatism when all you are trying to do is what is right by your children is never helpful
One of the big problems is that adverse reaction reporting has not been handled well historically. Even now, people are minimising adverse reactions as an acceptable cost, but the knowledge on this is foggy and messy.
Any Covid-19 vaccine will be different in that the most sensitive target population are the elderly, not children. Most clinical trials are done with healthy volunteers and elderly will be poorly represented if at all in such trials. This may have implications for assessing efficacy as well as risks of side effects (adverse events) occurring.
do you think there will be an initial vaccine for elderly people rather than one for the whole population? So more like a flu vaccine rather than a measles one?
Short answer is that I don’t know. I’d focus on the most vulnerable people first (i.e. mostly the elderly but also diabetics, etc.), i.e. a targeted roll out. For ‘herd immunity’ a much larger section of the population would need to be vaccinated. I have no idea if two vaccines would make sense from a medical PoV and/or logistically and economically. Interesting question though 🙂
we also don't know yet if it's possible to have a vaccine to immunise most of the population against covid, and how long that will last. If it ends up being like the flu vaccine then the conversation changes a bit.
So many extremely interesting things still being discovered about the illness and how it effects people's immunity, CV system, nervous system etc. I'm not seeing a good understanding yet about chronic illness from covid, and think there is good reason for caution with the vaccine. If we're vaccinating to 'go back to normal', I think we need to have a very robust discussion about all the costs of that.
As for determining genuine medical reason, there are things like allergies to components, being immunosuppressed, previous reactions etc etc. Basic skills in navigating around information sources and assessing their credibility finds it very easily. Here's the CDC brief guidelines:
So you have position that only genuine medical reasons are valid for not vaccinating, but you don't have a position on how that should be assessed in NZ? Or are you saying that the state should take the CDC list and apply it irrespective of individual clinical assessment?
I'm guessing I'm not on the CDC list. My GP has told me in the past to not get a flu vaccine. There will be many people in my situation who don't fit into your philosophical position on vaccines who would be at risk from the kind of mandates I suspect you would prefer. Medical science isn't infallible, and taking hardline positions makes good health care harder not better.
It may be that taking hardline positions makes good health care harder (but I'd like to see evidence of that before I accept it as likely fact), but any harmful effects will be tiny in relation to the harmful outcomes caused by the spreading of lies and misinformation that's currently going on, as exemplified by the anti-vax mob. 83 pointlessly dead Samoans being just one illustration of this.
Sure, I understand that the pro-mandated vax crowd are happy enough to sacrifice others on principle without actually designing good systems that might mitigate that. I equally understand why some parts of the community will say fuck you to that position.
I'd like to see some evidence that anti-vaxers were responsible for the Samoan deaths. Instead of say the NZ and Samoan govts, or the MoH in NZ. Or neoliberalism for that matter. It's pretty easy to point fingers.
Afaik, in NZ, the MoH position is that the number of intentional non-vaccinators is less of a problem than the number of people who don't vaccinate because of lack of access or awareness. The whole anti-anti-vax stuff occludes this.
Samoan children hospitalised with measles died after catching MRSA.
(A pity the article is behind the paywall..) It is an interesting read and goes a long way to explaining how a usually mild illness with an historic death rate of 1 in 10,000 cases had such a devastating impact in Samoa.
speaks of how The risk of any further outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases of childhood is declining as immunisation coverage improves.
The most recently available (2014) estimates of vaccination coverage range from just above 90% for three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP),oral poliomyelitis (OPV)vaccine and the first dose of measles-rubella (MR) vaccinedown to 78% for a second dose of MR.
Tragically, in July 2018, two infants were killed when almost inexplicably nurses mixed the MMR vaccine with a muscle relaxant.
The government halted the vaccination program and the previously rising rates of vaccination plummeted. A vacuum demands to be filled, and in swooped the anti- European medicine brigade.
I've had a look for other reports suggesting the Samoan deaths were due to MRSA and found nothing other than the link to your paywalled Herald report. So for now, the credibility on that looks low.
But I'm trying hard to work out what you're trying to suggest here, Rosemary.
Best I can get to is you think that 83 kids dying that had measles (and maybe got MRSA at the hospital they went to for treatment) that were infected with measles because they weren't vaccinated, probably because of anti-vaxxer activity leveraging off a previous medical operator error (no fault whatsoever of the vaccine), that makes spreading around anti-vax misrepresentation and distortion all good?
@weka: There's a plethora of credible articles reporting that anti-vaxers had a significant role in Samoa's low vaccination rate, and a complete absence of anything credible saying the opposite.
The Samoan government suspended the country’s vaccination programme for 10 months, despite advice from the WHO that the country immediately restart the programme. By 2018, only 31% of infants had been vaccinated.
“When you pause for 10 months that’s enough time for thousands of kids [without immunity] to accumulate,” said Jose Hagan, regional immunisation specialist for the WHO.
…
“It’s really hard to know how much to attribute to the anti-vaxxer messaging,” said Hagan. “They’ve certainly been extremely active in Samoa, for perplexing reasons. They’re flying all the way to Samoa to spread this message.”
While these events played a part in reducing the immunity level; health experts and government sources in Samoa have told the Guardian that once the disease arrived on Samoa’s shores, its impact was worse than it needed to be because of mismanagement.
the thing that really bothers me, and it's why I have some understanding of the anti-vaxer position, is the blind faith that mainstream medicine is the best we can do and that mostly it's all good. I'd really like pro-mandatory vax people to spend some time looking at the very large body of evidence of where medical science has fucked up.
It seems most likely that covid vaccines will be released on scale because of the pandemic and bypass some of the usual processes in developing meds.
My understanding is that they're not so much bypassing the usual processes, as doing some of them in sync and speeding up the process and intervals between the stages.
E.g. different vaccines have different types of construction facility. Normally you wouldn't invest in building a factory unless the thing passed all trial phases, and then a business case was made for it (because capitalism).
But they know how to mass produce each vaccine early on in the development, so Gates is building something like seven factories for the seven most promising vaccines in development. Some, maybe all, of those will fail trials at some stage. But if one is shown to be effective and safe, millions of doses could be produced in short order.
And business plans in this case are pretty quick beyond calculating production costs, because we know the objective is to treat almost everyone, and there's solid funding for that goal.
But I haven't heard they're nixing the I, II, & III trials, which are the main safety and efficacy safeguards?
I would have thought time was a critical component of trials. Not for building factories but for seeing adverse effects, as well as allowing for appropriate processes between lab and human society.
I haven't checked to see who these two scientists are, but some interesting points in this article,
Some vaccines are fast-tracking through the regulatory system before studies are completed and with minimal details of experimental results being released. Executives of a big pharmaceutical company whose vaccine is among those closest to the finish line recently sold their stocks after releasing “positive results” that were superficial, partial and that included three of eight healthy young volunteers experiencing severe adverse events.
Events like this are causing the public to become skeptical. A promising vaccine should have solid data to back it up. Those touting vaccines against COVID-19 that are in clinical trials should be asked to provide comprehensive details and results of their study. This enables objective and rigorous evaluations by the broader scientific community. A lack of complete transparency would be cause for concern.
We also know that a lot of covid research is being released as preprints and not standing up to scrutiny. That alongside the huge issues that medical research has had with its peer review process in the past few decades, I'd say the rationales for caution are sound. The economic and financial pressures are going to be huge too, as well as career ones. Big potential for problems.
But the executives selling their stocks after an overtly positive announcement that had some not-so-positive details? Yeah, they don't think the company will be selling millions of doses of that vaccine. They think it won't finish the trials.
The time factor is always there – some things can't be rushed, cultures only grow at a regular rate, some reactions can take time to develop. But some things can be sped up with more work hours (overtime or additional staff), and some things (like building a factory and doing a trial) can be done at the same time without compromising safety.
The preprint issue is a common route in fast-evolving situations: if lots of people are facing the same unknown situation, knowing what others have tried as soon as possible is better than waiting for reviewer number 3 to argue why the wrong bayesian equation for confidence intervals was used. It was extremely effective during the 20(14?) ebola epidemic.
Bear in mind it's a global pandemic. We're not talking about a research paper into a condition which 5 people in the world have. We can sit back and ruminate upon these issues as an intellectual exercise because we aren't facing the same problems as most of the rest of the planet. If they produce a vaccine that actually has a genuine mortality rate, it could still be preferable to letting the damned covid have its way.
regulators decide if the vaccine's effectivenes and safety meet levels to be approved for general use – and they might take the current pandemic into account when doing that math.
Health officials decide if it gets added to the schedule, and for whom.
Funders, including employers, decide whether to pay for people to be vaccinated.
Governments will take the externalities into account when deciding whether vaccines should be mandatory (I doubt it, but dolt45 taught me never say never), or whether unvaccinated people will be in mandatory isolation to protect themselves and others, or whether it looks like enough people will get the jab to protect the decliners so who cares about them.
In NZ, I wouldn't be surprised if we kept the border controls and didn't vaccinate using the first vaccine to be released, at least for a few months. But in a place really hard-hit by covid-19, I would be equally unsurprised if they threw the first vaccine available at everyone possible, as long as the adverse reactions were at least an order of magnitude below what covid causes. If only to let the crematoria get some downtime.
I mean, it's not anything new in that regard, so we pretty much know the answers along the likely front of vaccine efficacy vs disease adversity, and the available supplies.
If there's a reasonable vaccine and a rando case comes up in a year or two, chances are the govt'll just vaccinate the people most at risk – known close contacts like family and any cops or medical staff who attended, alongside all the standard testing. There might even be a local lockdown. But what with the clusterfuck on the rest of the planet, there likely simply won't be enough stock to be lining up schoolkids and so on throughout the country on an annual basis (or however long the protection lasts).
They would probably also jab high-risk professions, e.g. border staff and people working in the isolation centres.
When global pandemic controls get it in hand, and more supplies are available, it's quite possible the MoH will enable GPs to prescribe/administer it, but pharmac won't fund routine administering like with the flu vaccine.
It'll be like if you want to travel to some parts of the planet 8 months ago, you have the option to drop $x00 on various shots for diseases endemic in those areas, but the govt won't give you those vaccines for free. can't remember the specifics, but a colleague went off the beaten track in Asia a few months ago and shots were an issue.
BUT
it might get added to the vaccine schedule in future years if covid isn't eradicatable, and just becomes endemic. So same as MMR or what have you.
If a vaccine becomes available for use in New Zealand, it will have already undergone field trials involving tens of thousands of volunteers that will be very closely monitored. Because of our COVID-free status, we're likely to be a long way down the list to get supplies, so there will have been millions of people already vaccinated elsewhere in the world. So, there's very little to be concerned about here in NZ.
So. The above being true, why would our government not expect the pharmaceutical company to be liable for any injury caused by their product?
Harm from a vaccine is currently one of the things ACC covers, so if the government did indemnify a vaccine manufacturer it would appear to make absolutely zero difference to any individuals within New Zealand. Any liability issue would appear to be between the government or ACC or Pharmac or Medsafe, and the manufacturer.
If it did happen, it wouldn't be the first time. From The Chairman's link:
The Ministry did not rule out offering indemnity to a vaccine supplier, as has happened previously.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act show the previous Labour government accepted liability when it sourced a bird flu vaccine.
In May 2007, the Ministry of Health obtained 100,000 vaccines from Baxter Healthcare, at a cost of up to $3.4 million.
But as part of the purchase, the government had to provide indemnity to Baxter.
Exactly! The indemnity issue is not a health & safety one but a commercial/business decision so that companies feel free to register their product for the NZ market as it lowers their exposure to financial risk/liability in case something goes awry in a previously untested population (think Māori and Pacific Islanders who may have confounding risk factors).
With the policy the Nats are putting out it is obvious they have realised they have no way of winning the treasury benches this election or next.
The transport policy was just ridiculous. probably undoable given the geology of the Brynderwyns and Kaimais. And uncosted. So not a real policy at all. If they go into 2023 with it, general laughter all around.
The raiding Kiwisaver is just as silly, nonsense really. 70-80% of small busineses fail in the first few years. So no business and a big dent in your retirement savings.
As for the charging of all Kiwis returning. Typical punitive stuff. And given our Bill of rights, probably unenforceable.
Mugabe was an huge fan of cricket, apparently the white administration played cricket radio commentaries from all around the world into his cell 24 hours a day for years. Hated the game beforehand but realised he had to understand it and love it to stop it from having the effect they wanted.
It’s taken 12 years, and required a change to Parliament’s archaic rules, but a group of female MPs have come together to ban female genital mutilation, in all forms. A cross-party group threw aside party allegiances and joined forces to bring New Zealand’s laws around FGM in line with international guidelines. They created a joint Member’s Bill – a way for MPs to have new laws debated outside the Government programme.
Wall said FGM was “part of our legacy of sexual violence, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation”. “I think this is what Parliament's all about. It's about bringing positive change, and community-driven change in a way that de-politicised it. “For us, it was about being clear that any form of violence against women, we have to do everything we can to eliminate it and to stand up and say, these practices are archaic, and they will not be tolerated in New Zealand.”
National’s Anne Tolley took the idea first to Mallard, and then Parliament’s powerful business committee, which makes decisions on proceedings in the House. She’s now hoping for a permanent change to Standing Orders, the rules that govern Parliament.
“We went to the Speaker and asked if could we break with history basically, and have the bill in the name of four members to represent cross party. We are proposing that we change the Standing Orders to allow this to happen more often. So that if we want to do this, again, people don't have to go through that process of convincing the Speaker and taking it to the business committee and getting their approval. That it would just be a matter of course. There are cross party groups in a number of areas, working on mental health, on suicide, so [there are] a number of things that they would be able to put forward.”
Wall and Tolley are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organisation of national parliaments. Tolley said she would be taking the idea to the forum.
Good to see this. The use of lateral thinking by parliamentarians is particularly welcome! Cross-party consensus is rare and I hope they succeed with their initiative to make it easier to get – and also in the international arena. Well done, all involved! 👍
Heron must be the most naive bugger in the universe. He didn't check Boags computer because he took her word, she said the bloody stuff came off her computer FFS.
Walker did it to show he wasn't racist, oh FFS he has form so he is.
And where is the howl from the media about why we are still paying Walker. I'm afraid it really grates on this taxpayer that we are tossing him apparently some $60000 to hang around until the election doing who knows what if anything for the electorate. Any other job -he'd have been down the road long time ago.
And an MP throwing a wobbly and leaking info because someone called him a racist, is completely childish.
Also I'm annoyed at the muller puff piece in yesterday's herald. Apparently his mental health difficulties are a result of hamish walkers actions. He won't be returning to Parliament this year but is another nat that is happy to take the pay packet
I don't believe for a moment that the leak was because he was upset over being called racist. This was pure dirty politics aimed at discrediting the government. The 'gosh I was so upset at being called racist' is pure smoke screen and a more 'palatable' story than the truth.
I laughed out loud at the story saying that he just coincidentally called Boag and she just happened to have something on hand to help…bollocks. Why is this story not featured in NZ Herald or Stuff today?
RadioNZ on Walker and his excuse for lacking probity and responsibility that is owed to people and their personal information.
He childishly lashed out because?… Spoilt baby syndrome? Outgoing National MP Hamish Walker told an inquiry he leaked personal Covid-19 patient details to the media due to the "distress of being labelled a racist".
Hamish Walker is still cited giving a misleading excuse to Heron QC and then Heron QC has not appeared to investigate this false justification for its flaws in the reports written findings. Heron's following analysis in the report seems to unwittingly validate Walker instead.
Walker was able to still state along the lines that being distressed about being called a racist because of his actions, ie. from "firing off a press statement warning up to 11,000 people were headed for Southland from India, Pakistan, Korea",
Walker to Heron then finger points deflecting to Boag and a ghost constituent of his.
( NB. The email is only about " confirmed COVID 19 cases as of 9.00am 2 July 2020. ( not the 11,000 Walker needed to validate his claim) Further, the email footer has the Privacy Act prohibitions and the title in caps MEDICAL IN CONFIDENCE )
Again to the investigator, (Heron), Walker MP, is able to still justify his illicit actions using his anger as a motive- similar to his earlier expressions to the media. " Calling me a racist is Labour's default tactic when they are unable to defend their blatant failures. It's not about race," ;
"It's about the countries these Kiwis are coming from.( re NIMBY xenophobia of Koreans, Pakastanis and Indians).
However, the smack in the face flaw is that even now we are to believe that Walker just wanted evidence to prove countries of origins. Walker stated that he was following up a constituent's concern he only " intended to identify the countries the returning New Zealanders were coming from."
The fact is millions of people could already have told Boag and Walker WHERE the confirmed and probable cases came from WITHOUT breaching the law and compromising individual's privacy and safety !!!! For months, then and still anyone can follow origins on a globally accessible public database.
"I've long been struck by the intensity of right-wing anger against relatively trivial regulations, like bans on phosphates in detergent and efficiency standards for lightbulbs," Krugman writes. "It's the principle of the thing: many on the right are enraged at any suggestion that their actions should take other people's welfare into account." According to Krugman, far-right Republicans equate irresponsibility with "freedom." "This rage is sometimes portrayed as love of freedom," Krugman observes. "But people who insist on the right to pollute are notably unbothered by, say, federal agents teargassing peaceful protesters. What they call 'freedom' is actually absence of responsibility."
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 8 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? –Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, let’s embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Iran’s leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires ...
Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an 18-year-old who’s studying and working in hospo shares their approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Transmasc Age: 18 Ethnicity: Pākehā/Māori Role: Student, ...
Jacqui dean just claimed national built 30 000 state houses. !!
On news hub
Did she raise her eyebrow?
No when challenged she stood her ground !!!
Bat shit crazy stuff coming out of national these days.
Jacqui Dean looks to be just another M.P. compromised by her support of the alcohol industry……
‘When questioned by Māori Party MP Tariana Turia, on why she was unwilling to take the same prohibitory line on smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol as she took on BZP, Ms Dean said Alcohol and tobacco have been with our society for many, many years; It is estimated that alcohol-related conditions account for 3.1% of all male deaths and 1.41% of all female deaths in New Zealand.
Dean’s Otago electorate is also home to approximately 5% of New Zealand’s wine production, described by the New Zealand Wine Growers Association as a new but aggressively expanding wine area, which is now New Zealand’s seventh largest wine region.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqui_Dean
There are so many ways that our standard of living and health is being decimated by the government and Treasury introduced neolib and freemarket systems. Alcohol has been around for ever but there was so much reaction about its affects in early NZ that it was banned, then reintroduced with control over hours, then after neolib some outlets could open 24/7. Alcohol can ruin people's will to work and stick to the tasks of their role in life, it also spreads to affect the family who adapt to the eccentricities of the addicted one, and the bad affects continue down generations.
So alcohol in excess taking us down. Further down the post Treetop 4.1 talks about micro businesses failing, and the bad affect on those trying to cope with that. I think small business failure is very high -within three years most have either gone bust, or found it was an expensive lesson as to what they shouldn't do, or they sell out, probably at a loss. No way should people draw on their Kiwisaver. It is interesting that Bill English made serious throat-clearing noises about people saving to impress the old-fashioned ignorant of economics, or old people for whom that idea worked until we had National hyperinflation. But actually the economy feeds off people spending, not people saving, and it keeps many so short on wages they have to borrow to get through till the next payday, so there is business profit to the lenders of that money which can not be more than 100% on the actual loan. Kind eh. So National lie about money and people still soak it up as long the end is blaming the poor for their circumstances.
Could be true… does she mean since 1936?
She made it sound like the last 9 years. But I guess itll the standard nat method of tell a big porky defend it for a bit then back away quietly knowing that those less engaged will repeat the lie for them
Report https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/national-housing-spokesperson-jacqui-dean-falsely-claims-they-built-30-000-state-homes-when-last-in-power.amp.html?__twitter_impression=true
fact check & Labour responds https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/nz-election-2020-jacinda-ardern-says-it-would-be-fantastic-if-national-s-false-housing-claims-were-true.amp.html
You're onto National bwaghorn. I hadn't actually understood the whole process. But doesn't work for Labour. Promising thousands of houses in three years must have been industry-hype, but the Minister concerned with those funny-business people needs to be wary; these people are not your friends, and you are like innocent Mole going through the Wildwood with evil weasels watching, smirking with their pocket calculators red hot.
Since the Tea Party receded into history, then got Trumped, the latest hot trend in rightist politics in the US seems to be the one pioneered by an online anonymist: Q.
Ah, good vs evil, where the christians come in. "Thiel is a self-described Christian", and kiwi since 2011 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#New_Zealand_citizenship)
Jesus would be thrilled that his followers are becoming so successful in infiltrating the US political establishment.
Looks like history repeating itself. Conservatives have been there & done that before, almost two centuries ago.
Jesus wouldn't recognize them on the street.
And when he did he would kick their asses all over the park.
There's a lot of truth in the Q conspiracy– America *is* controlled by a cabal of crooks– but their solution (Trump) is wishful thinking in the extreme.
Also, the Q propaganda is first-rate. Example
An alternative spelling is Putin.
Looks like a sustained attempt by the chemical industry to poison nature is coming to an end, finally, here.
I live just below the bottom of those photos in the report, around half a kilometer from their boundary, just far enough away to be free from paranoia.
If they sell their huge unused land-holding and subdivide, it may become the choice real estate option in New Plymouth: particularly the ocean view side, a millionaire's row in waiting. I'm right on the city edge, look out the back window to the countryside across the way & mountain above. Native frogs in my back yard come up from the stream in between suburb & countryside – glad to see the last of the agri-poisoners!
Dennis, taking in the photo, I envy you your home location, and I join with you in celebrating the exit of the blot on the lovely landscape. I hope the land is restored to health.
Thanks, Molly, yes it'll be an interesting space to watch for a while, I suspect!
My cousin was born with a cleft palate which possibly comes from being exposed to the chemicals at the plant (her parents lived near there around the turn of the 1970's). The first 20 years of her life was spent in and out of hospital getting it fixed up.
Collins cashing in your super to start a business.
SStupid idea considering 70% of businesses go broke in the first year,Desperate and Dumb
I would like to know the percentage of small established businesses which are failing.
A failed small business just does not have a financial affect, it has mental consequences as well.
https://nzbusiness.co.nz/article/fail-expos%C3%A9
When you really look at the stats you have to wonder why the politicians are so caught up on the idea that its small business that drives NZ.
Does being self employed count as a business?
If not why not?
Yes, small business are business the employ zero (self employed) to 20 employees
Interestingly the zero group comprises 372,429 businesses, 71% of all small businesses, and small businesses are 29% of all businesses.
I am learning a lot today with the links about small business.
How to save a business from failing and what is a small business.
"But it's our money!" is the RW argument. I'd like to see KS untouchable to all Partys meddling.
This is classic Crusher. She's talking to the deep base who might not bother voting, not to someone who's been laid off because of covid.
Even if she gets to be PM (highly doubtful), I doubt the policy will start many more businesses than she crushed cars. $20K is just seed capital, the prospective business person then has to go and get a bank to support them, so has to have a pretty good business plan. You'd be looking at $100K finance package for a business that's going to do as well or better than wages. If the business plan is good enough to get the banks attention, then it wouldn't matter if the $20K was in cash or KiwiSaver, it's still an asset and the bank might prefer it being in KiwiSaver.
It effectively liquidates part of the person's Kiwisaver so it becomes an asset the bank now has access to. Pretty clear who would benefit from such a move.
Deep down under it is the fact that right wingers think your a loser if you're an employee.
They want us all self employed and scrapping for every cent .
In many cases it will be $20k into the pocket of some franchise owner – while the poor 'mark' who bought the franchise, will drive themselves slowly insane trying to scratch a living under impossible conditions.
To be brutally honest if your at the point where you need to bust kiwi saver your probably not cut out to run you own business,
Brutal but honest.
They gave an example of a plumber who has been laid off. How stupid is that. They would only have been laid off because there is not enough work yet they are supposed to risk their retirement savings competing with their former boss in the same market.
And most plumbers aren't employees once they get past their training anyway. There's a shortage of them (this seems to be a recurring issue) and they tend to be well paid and independent.
If you have the qualifications and you are a half way decent plumber you would be out on your own anyway.
Are you suggesting that people should not even try? I know you are quoting your % from an article you have read once in the past, but I'd really like to know what type of business/venture makes up that 70%.
Its not a question of not trying but accepting that things aren't going to get better simply because someone became self-employed on a down in the market.
But we do have to consider that National governs for the rich and those rich people are looking at those funds and thinking of how nice it would be if they were in their pockets instead of those of the poor. And so National invents some BS rhetoric that sounds good but will only work to shift those funds from the poor to the rich.
where's all the "wealth creators"?
Trying to syphon up all the wealth that everyone else created as per normal.
There has to be a better way of getting 20K for a start up other than partially/fully gutting Kiwi saver.
A 0% interest loan from the government would do it. Throw in freely available mentors and ongoing financial assistance (still at 0%) until its an obvious make/break and we'll probably get some good businesses going.
In fact, all business loans should be direct from government and be at 0% with no fees.
R.D. Laing, the Scottish psychiatrist, introduced hypersanity more than half a century ago. https://www.psychologytoday.com/nz/blog/hide-and-seek/201908/hypersanity
Mainstreamers inhabit a psychosocial head-space: normalcy. Representative democracy allows them to impose their hegemony on the rest of us via the binary format of National & Labour, here.
Mainstreamers exhibit their normalcy by empowering their political reps, trained by the education system, so the cause and effect relation between that and the hundred million of them who got eliminated in consequence, during the first half of the 20th century, never becomes clear to them. Normalcy is a fog in culture that persists.
Those who transcend normalcy see through the fog to the deeper reality that encompasses all. The sleep of normalcy Laing refers to above can then lead to awakening from the normal. BLM, woke, etc.
Following Laing & the mid-20th century human potential movement, hippies became the spearhead of a cultural transformation that swept through western civilisation. Psychedelic drugs were used to decondition us. Normalcy evaporated.
Then a younger generation said "Nah! Too weird." They went back to the future via Thatcher, Reagan & Rogernomics. Normal transmission resumed. Good little consumer citizens, doing what they're told. When Diogenes was asked
Some folks see the big picture, naturally. Some need intervention, such as from psychedelics, then they see it. The pandemic is producing intervention in normalcy, and imposing it on the masses. Only survivors will make the transition and become hypersane. The contagion curve shows no sign of levelling off.
The culling process (shown by the death numbers) remains a slow build. Gaia is patient, tolerant of slow learners – but eventually they will run out of time. Normal is the loser's option…
Winners vs. losers; a nice dichotomy I had not heard in a while.
It may get recycled somewhat during the election campaign. Voters are meant to be cognizant that Labour or National will win. Trouble is, when they get so busy copying each other all the time, poor normal folk get bewildered and find it hard to identify the winner. In normalcy, I mean. The PM seems an abnormal blip on their mental horizon, so expect them to spot her as a winner.
Of course, politics is a contest of ideas and the general election is the Olympic Games of (NZ) politics. I wonder who will win the gold glitter this time. Life is all but an enduring competition trying to outdo your fellow humans. In the end, you die anyway. Such is life.
Nice. I've got a lot of time for Laing.
"The pandemic is producing intervention in normalcy, and imposing it on the masses."
Yes. People respond in lots of different ways to being forced awake. I had had some hopes for NZ that we would step up a bit more on this front. Maybe that is happening it's just not being reflected in the mainstream institutions yet. Is suspect that every community now has more people preparing and future proofing their lives. The election will be telling. Which way will NZ jump?
So JLR tables/doesn’t table 65,000 Nat donation transactions and details one Inner Mongolian donation of 150,000 dollars from a Chinese company with no known connections to NZ and not a word from the media that I have heard.
Does the deafening silence mean the media is actually doing a bit more research or just ignoring it?
Weren't there already media stories months ago about that donation? Which would be why he was safe to mention it without triggering the threatened lawyering.
Probably ignoring it. The MSM is, generally, supportive of National.
Watch the Garner interview with Dean, he's really trying to help her out but her BS even he can't let go by (even if he still slags off Labour).
Winnie, no sense of irony. https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300069404/dead-rat-spit-back-up-green-party-vote-to-repeal-waka-jumping-law-with-national-infuriating-winston-peters
Peters is singing for his last supper and it’ll be his swan song unless we have a rogue poll on 19 Sep.
Ironic from Peter's now he is sabotaging the Coalitions deals.
NZ first will be last at the election.
Peter's is making a bigger Dick of himself every day the polls reflect his demise.He is out of touch with his messaging no ones listening.Back to the past ideas.
I wonder if the govt considered charging all returnees for meals. Food is something they would have had to pay for if not in isolation, so a charge of say $50 for for 3 meals a day would not seem unreasonable.
…$50 for for 3 meals a day would not seem unreasonable.
Shopping wisely, one can feed an adult for a whole week on fifty bucks. Not including alcohol.
Interesting there hasn't been too much comparison with paying for returnees accom + food + power with how much benes or min wage workers make and have to live on.
It is a middle class 'problem', for sure. Which is why both Lab and Nats are addressing it in election year.
All things considered, $285/day for the taxpayer to cover MIQ costs isn't that high.
That's accommodation, food, security, army costs, healthcare and the rest of whatever additional costs there are.
I have often opined on Twitter that while Citizens shouldn't be charged for returning, I'm not sure we should apply the same logic to permanent residents unless they are ordinarily resident in NZ.
Permanent Residents are citizens of another country. I'm not sure of just how many PR visas have been issued to people who then promptly buggered off overseas, but if I'm reading DIA figures correctly, it looks like 500k PR visas issued in the last 5 years alone. I can't find figures for prior to 2015. If the last 5 years is anything to go by, that's a lot of PRs coming back to NZ after they haven't set foot in NZ for many years since they got their PR visa.
It'd be nice to have the PR visa time bound requiring people to apply for citizenship after a set period like many other nations do.
The proposed charge does not come anywhere near covering the costs. It is political theatre.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/covid-quarantine-fees-about-emotion-not-economics
Keeps the hotels ticking . So they aren't getting the wage subsidies or laying off staff .
But of a work scheme in disguise.
500,000 is a staggering number, but it would be good to see analysis of time spent in NZ.
"It'd be nice to have the PR visa time bound requiring people to apply for citizenship after a set period like many other nations do."
This seems reasonable.
IFL, I suspect returnees wouldn't be expected to live on rice and beans.
darklol. Yet we expect thousands of others too.
Obviously not! Rice & beans. Also, are the detainees spending it all on alcohol, ciggies, drugs & pokies?
So who is going to be the bridesmaid NZ First or the Greens?
When it comes to NZ First they may not even make it to the after party?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/422321/government-may-provide-indemnity-to-nz-supplier-of-covid-19-vaccine
I have viewed a number of things online of late that bring vaccines into question.
These are 3 main ones below.
https://youtu.be/dBvY9x2Nma0
https://youtu.be/zH2i7VeoSZE
Kennedy Jr is a long-term peddler of misinformation, misrepresentation and all-around bullshit that's just opportunistically using the increased interest in vaccines to grab more clicks. FFS, Kennedy is still a supporter of Andrew Wakefield, the proven fraudster willing to falsify data that played games with vulnerable kids' health apparently just to line his pockets from lawsuits. Kennedy's own family strongly repudiates his views and actions.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/116449847/the-disgraced-antivaxx-doctor-the-supermodel-and-the-measles-epidemic
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/robert-f-kennedy-jr-is-the-single-leading-source-of-anti-vax-ads-on-facebook/
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/08/robert-kennedy-jr-measles-vaccines-226798
https://www.sciencealert.com/anti-vaxxers-seize-virus-moment-to-spread-fake-news
If a vaccine becomes available for use in New Zealand, it will have already undergone field trials involving tens of thousands of volunteers that will be very closely monitored. Because of our COVID-free status, we're likely to be a long way down the list to get supplies, so there will have been millions of people already vaccinated elsewhere in the world. So, there's very little to be concerned about here in NZ.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/422197/covid-19-moderna-pfizer-start-decisive-vaccine-trials-eye-year-end-launches
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200705/Oxford-COVID-19-vaccine-trials-move-to-stage-3-human-trials.aspx
If it weren't for the gratuitous risk the unvaccinated pose to the very few people that have genuine medical reasons to not get particular vaccines, I'd be very much in favour of idiots sucked in by anti-vax bullshit to just let the disease cull themselves out of the herd
who decides what a genuine medical reason is?
It seems most likely that covid vaccines will be released on scale because of the pandemic and bypass some of the usual processes in developing meds. This is likely to cause harm. It's ok to have a conversation about that potential harm and what it means. Downplaying that or out right denying is unhelpful, and will fuel the other side. Either side of the pro-anti debate taking dogmatic or fundamentalist positions won't serve us.
We need to be able to have conversations that address skepticism about the safety and efficacy of vaccines without demonizing doubters.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/08/robert-kennedy-jr-measles-vaccines-226798
Funny how bad-faith artists that get called on their bullshit are quick to cry demonisation.
Ummm. Andre, buddy. That quote came from one of your links…the one denouncing Robert Kennedy.
In this case, The Chairman is mindlessly posting clickbait by a repeatedly debunked proven bullshit artist without applying even the most rudimentary credibility checking. In this case, Kennedy is full of misrepresentations, distortions, partial truths and all the other tricks of those with intent to mislead.
It really gets tiresome seeing the same misinformation posted again and again. A brief search of something like anti-vax debunked brings up tons of articles examining the claims made and showing the actual facts of the matter. It's very basic level "ability to assess information credibility".
Personally I'm done with coddling the feels of idiots that see something then spread it around mindlessly. That kind of bullshit just helps the malicious among us get traction.
As for determining genuine medical reason, there are things like allergies to components, being immunosuppressed, previous reactions etc etc. Basic skills in navigating around information sources and assessing their credibility finds it very easily. Here's the CDC brief guidelines:
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/should-not-vacc.html
how many anti-vaxers do you know in real life Andre? How many people that aren't full on anti-vaxer but have concerns?
Two anti-vaxers that I know of for sure. Three more I don't know for sure either way, but are susceptible to the same bullshit clusters of beliefs and misinformation, and inability to try to fact-check, that seem to go hand-in-hand with anti-vax, so they're probables. I've lost count of how many have expressed concerns or hesitancy and then been pointed to accurate information, and then gone on to embrace vaccination.
Given my social circles and family tend to be in facts/evidence oriented occupations that value skepticism and consideration of alternatives highly, I consider those numbers of anti-vaxxers and hesitants fairly high.
My point here would be that ridicule and ostracisation is radicalising people away from science. I know these communities quite well, not from an outside, finger pointing, we can force you to change pov, but they're just normal parts of my community. Telling them they're stupid doesn't change them, it entrenches their views.
NZ is on the cusp of a number of radicalisations, and we really should be paying attention to this. Treating people who have concerns about the covid vaccine like shit won't make them more likely to accept the need for vaccination.
Myself, at the start of the pandemic I started off thinking a covid vax would be one of the few I might need in my remaining lifetime. Now I'm more cautious, not because of conspiracy theories, but because I can see it will be rushed and that there will be a disability cost and that we will vaccinate before having a good understanding of the disease, and pro-mandate people arguing that disability doesn't matter can in fact get fucked. If you want to solve the problem of lowered uptake, then address the valid concerns and support them being resolved in other ways. People mostly want to feel safe and secure, attend to that and it will get easier.
Anyone that has a genuine medical reason not to get vaccinated is one of the people vaccine programmes are trying to protect. But if you are genuinely one of those people, and you still choose to amplify anti-vax messages, I can take a darwinian view of that. I'm just disgusted on behalf of those with genuine medical reason not to be vaccinated that are put at unnecessary risk by that kind of stupidity.
As for valid concerns, one of the anti-vaxers main techniques is to take an absolutely miniscule number of problems and blow them way out of proportion. Furthermore, of the very very small number of reported reactions, a tiny proportion of those have any long-term effects and the vast majority fall into the category of short term discomfort.
Then there's the attribution problem where many of the long term problems blamed on vaccination aren't in fact due to vaccination, or at worst were an underlying latent problem that would very likely have occurred at some time due to illness, but the mild immune system stimulation that usually accompanies an effective vaccine happened to be the trigger.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287411502_The_urban_myth_of_the_association_between_neurological_disorders_and_vaccinations
I can't be arsed actually trying to put a number to it, but I'd guess the chances are pretty good that for any rural resident the drive to and from the clinic is way riskier than the vaccination.
you still haven't said who decides what is genuine. Is it the MoH? My GP? The CDC? Who? And how do they determine that? It's fine if you can't answer that, but having faith in an ideological position isn't good enough for health policy.
I'm not amplifying anti-vax messages, I'm saying that anti-vax and pro-mandatory vax position are both problematic and making the situation worse. That you can't tell the difference between what I am talking about and antivaxers basically supports my point there.
Exactly weka. Any medical intervention has risk attached and should only be pursued after careful thought. Both my children had most vaccinations but their are enough cases of damage to make you look carefully at what you are exposing your children too. To say we should blindly follow what we we are told is the right path has led to pain and guilt for some parents. Dogmatism when all you are trying to do is what is right by your children is never helpful
One of the big problems is that adverse reaction reporting has not been handled well historically. Even now, people are minimising adverse reactions as an acceptable cost, but the knowledge on this is foggy and messy.
Any Covid-19 vaccine will be different in that the most sensitive target population are the elderly, not children. Most clinical trials are done with healthy volunteers and elderly will be poorly represented if at all in such trials. This may have implications for assessing efficacy as well as risks of side effects (adverse events) occurring.
https://theconversation.com/why-vaccines-are-less-effective-in-the-elderly-and-what-it-means-for-covid-19-141971
do you think there will be an initial vaccine for elderly people rather than one for the whole population? So more like a flu vaccine rather than a measles one?
Bit busy at the moment 🙁
Short answer is that I don’t know. I’d focus on the most vulnerable people first (i.e. mostly the elderly but also diabetics, etc.), i.e. a targeted roll out. For ‘herd immunity’ a much larger section of the population would need to be vaccinated. I have no idea if two vaccines would make sense from a medical PoV and/or logistically and economically. Interesting question though 🙂
we also don't know yet if it's possible to have a vaccine to immunise most of the population against covid, and how long that will last. If it ends up being like the flu vaccine then the conversation changes a bit.
So many extremely interesting things still being discovered about the illness and how it effects people's immunity, CV system, nervous system etc. I'm not seeing a good understanding yet about chronic illness from covid, and think there is good reason for caution with the vaccine. If we're vaccinating to 'go back to normal', I think we need to have a very robust discussion about all the costs of that.
So you have position that only genuine medical reasons are valid for not vaccinating, but you don't have a position on how that should be assessed in NZ? Or are you saying that the state should take the CDC list and apply it irrespective of individual clinical assessment?
I'm guessing I'm not on the CDC list. My GP has told me in the past to not get a flu vaccine. There will be many people in my situation who don't fit into your philosophical position on vaccines who would be at risk from the kind of mandates I suspect you would prefer. Medical science isn't infallible, and taking hardline positions makes good health care harder not better.
It may be that taking hardline positions makes good health care harder (but I'd like to see evidence of that before I accept it as likely fact), but any harmful effects will be tiny in relation to the harmful outcomes caused by the spreading of lies and misinformation that's currently going on, as exemplified by the anti-vax mob. 83 pointlessly dead Samoans being just one illustration of this.
Sure, I understand that the pro-mandated vax crowd are happy enough to sacrifice others on principle without actually designing good systems that might mitigate that. I equally understand why some parts of the community will say fuck you to that position.
I'd like to see some evidence that anti-vaxers were responsible for the Samoan deaths. Instead of say the NZ and Samoan govts, or the MoH in NZ. Or neoliberalism for that matter. It's pretty easy to point fingers.
Afaik, in NZ, the MoH position is that the number of intentional non-vaccinators is less of a problem than the number of people who don't vaccinate because of lack of access or awareness. The whole anti-anti-vax stuff occludes this.
83 pointlessly dead Samoans being just one illustration of this.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12333910
Samoan children hospitalised with measles died after catching MRSA.
(A pity the article is behind the paywall..) It is an interesting read and goes a long way to explaining how a usually mild illness with an historic death rate of 1 in 10,000 cases had such a devastating impact in Samoa.
As for spreading misinformation….
….this report from 2018
https://indopacifichealthsecurity.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/Samoa%20Report%20-Scoping%20Mission.pdf?v=1540363081
speaks of how The risk of any further outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases of childhood is declining as immunisation coverage improves.
The most recently available (2014) estimates of vaccination coverage range from just above 90% for three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP),oral poliomyelitis (OPV)vaccine and the first dose of measles-rubella (MR) vaccinedown to 78% for a second dose of MR.
Tragically, in July 2018, two infants were killed when almost inexplicably nurses mixed the MMR vaccine with a muscle relaxant.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/117952035/nurses-fatal-vaccination-error-in-samoa-was-against-parents-wishes
The government halted the vaccination program and the previously rising rates of vaccination plummeted. A vacuum demands to be filled, and in swooped the anti- European medicine brigade.
The chronology is very important Andre.
I've had a look for other reports suggesting the Samoan deaths were due to MRSA and found nothing other than the link to your paywalled Herald report. So for now, the credibility on that looks low.
But I'm trying hard to work out what you're trying to suggest here, Rosemary.
Best I can get to is you think that 83 kids dying that had measles (and maybe got MRSA at the hospital they went to for treatment) that were infected with measles because they weren't vaccinated, probably because of anti-vaxxer activity leveraging off a previous medical operator error (no fault whatsoever of the vaccine), that makes spreading around anti-vax misrepresentation and distortion all good?
are you saying that low vax rates in Samoa in 2019 were due to anti-vaxers?
@weka: There's a plethora of credible articles reporting that anti-vaxers had a significant role in Samoa's low vaccination rate, and a complete absence of anything credible saying the opposite.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/18/these-babies-should-not-have-died-how-the-measles-outbreak-took-hold-in-samoa
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=samoa+measles+anti-vax
Best I can get to is you think that 83 kids dying that had measles …. makes spreading around anti-vax misrepresentation and distortion all good?
No, Andre, and do think you are deliberately misinterpreting the information supplied.
According to the 2018 report there were no worries about the uptake of vaccinations in Samoa. None.
Then in July two Samoan babies were killed by incompetent nurses.
The Samoan government suspended the (previously lauded ) vaccination program.
More about the multiple factors that led to the tragic deaths from this measles outbreak.
https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/currently-world/samoa-measles-how-its-faring-after-the-epidemic
There are numerous articles and studies detailing the extreme prevalence of MRSA in Samoa. Go and do the research.
…
I didn't read through the whole article.
/shrug.
by all means pull out what you think is in the Guardian piece that supports your assertion.
thanks, I'd forgotten that part of it. Buy hey, let's blame it all on the small % of people in NZ who choose not to vaccinate against measles.
weka….the vaccination rates in Samoa only fell after the two babies were killed by the criminally incompetent nurses.
yes, I got that (had forgotten about that side of it). I was being sarcastic about Andre's argument.
the thing that really bothers me, and it's why I have some understanding of the anti-vaxer position, is the blind faith that mainstream medicine is the best we can do and that mostly it's all good. I'd really like pro-mandatory vax people to spend some time looking at the very large body of evidence of where medical science has fucked up.
My understanding is that they're not so much bypassing the usual processes, as doing some of them in sync and speeding up the process and intervals between the stages.
E.g. different vaccines have different types of construction facility. Normally you wouldn't invest in building a factory unless the thing passed all trial phases, and then a business case was made for it (because capitalism).
But they know how to mass produce each vaccine early on in the development, so Gates is building something like seven factories for the seven most promising vaccines in development. Some, maybe all, of those will fail trials at some stage. But if one is shown to be effective and safe, millions of doses could be produced in short order.
And business plans in this case are pretty quick beyond calculating production costs, because we know the objective is to treat almost everyone, and there's solid funding for that goal.
But I haven't heard they're nixing the I, II, & III trials, which are the main safety and efficacy safeguards?
I would have thought time was a critical component of trials. Not for building factories but for seeing adverse effects, as well as allowing for appropriate processes between lab and human society.
I haven't checked to see who these two scientists are, but some interesting points in this article,
https://theconversation.com/fast-covid-19-vaccine-timelines-are-unrealistic-and-put-the-integrity-of-scientists-at-risk-139824
We also know that a lot of covid research is being released as preprints and not standing up to scrutiny. That alongside the huge issues that medical research has had with its peer review process in the past few decades, I'd say the rationales for caution are sound. The economic and financial pressures are going to be huge too, as well as career ones. Big potential for problems.
Caution is reasonable.
But the executives selling their stocks after an overtly positive announcement that had some not-so-positive details? Yeah, they don't think the company will be selling millions of doses of that vaccine. They think it won't finish the trials.
The time factor is always there – some things can't be rushed, cultures only grow at a regular rate, some reactions can take time to develop. But some things can be sped up with more work hours (overtime or additional staff), and some things (like building a factory and doing a trial) can be done at the same time without compromising safety.
The preprint issue is a common route in fast-evolving situations: if lots of people are facing the same unknown situation, knowing what others have tried as soon as possible is better than waiting for reviewer number 3 to argue why the wrong bayesian equation for confidence intervals was used. It was extremely effective during the 20(14?) ebola epidemic.
Bear in mind it's a global pandemic. We're not talking about a research paper into a condition which 5 people in the world have. We can sit back and ruminate upon these issues as an intellectual exercise because we aren't facing the same problems as most of the rest of the planet. If they produce a vaccine that actually has a genuine mortality rate, it could still be preferable to letting the damned covid have its way.
yeah, let's not sit back and ruminate, but let's lay everything out on the table and look at it properly.
Mortality isn't the only issue here, but even there, who gets to decide?
Decide what?
regulators decide if the vaccine's effectivenes and safety meet levels to be approved for general use – and they might take the current pandemic into account when doing that math.
Health officials decide if it gets added to the schedule, and for whom.
Funders, including employers, decide whether to pay for people to be vaccinated.
Governments will take the externalities into account when deciding whether vaccines should be mandatory (I doubt it, but dolt45 taught me never say never), or whether unvaccinated people will be in mandatory isolation to protect themselves and others, or whether it looks like enough people will get the jab to protect the decliners so who cares about them.
In NZ, I wouldn't be surprised if we kept the border controls and didn't vaccinate using the first vaccine to be released, at least for a few months. But in a place really hard-hit by covid-19, I would be equally unsurprised if they threw the first vaccine available at everyone possible, as long as the adverse reactions were at least an order of magnitude below what covid causes. If only to let the crematoria get some downtime.
decide who should be vaccinated.
What we don't yet know is the efficacy of any vaccine, so a lot of this is kind of moot until we do know.
I mean, it's not anything new in that regard, so we pretty much know the answers along the likely front of vaccine efficacy vs disease adversity, and the available supplies.
If there's a reasonable vaccine and a rando case comes up in a year or two, chances are the govt'll just vaccinate the people most at risk – known close contacts like family and any cops or medical staff who attended, alongside all the standard testing. There might even be a local lockdown. But what with the clusterfuck on the rest of the planet, there likely simply won't be enough stock to be lining up schoolkids and so on throughout the country on an annual basis (or however long the protection lasts).
They would probably also jab high-risk professions, e.g. border staff and people working in the isolation centres.
When global pandemic controls get it in hand, and more supplies are available, it's quite possible the MoH will enable GPs to prescribe/administer it, but pharmac won't fund routine administering like with the flu vaccine.
It'll be like if you want to travel to some parts of the planet 8 months ago, you have the option to drop $x00 on various shots for diseases endemic in those areas, but the govt won't give you those vaccines for free. can't remember the specifics, but a colleague went off the beaten track in Asia a few months ago and shots were an issue.
BUT
it might get added to the vaccine schedule in future years if covid isn't eradicatable, and just becomes endemic. So same as MMR or what have you.
If a vaccine becomes available for use in New Zealand, it will have already undergone field trials involving tens of thousands of volunteers that will be very closely monitored. Because of our COVID-free status, we're likely to be a long way down the list to get supplies, so there will have been millions of people already vaccinated elsewhere in the world. So, there's very little to be concerned about here in NZ.
So. The above being true, why would our government not expect the pharmaceutical company to be liable for any injury caused by their product?
Harm from a vaccine is currently one of the things ACC covers, so if the government did indemnify a vaccine manufacturer it would appear to make absolutely zero difference to any individuals within New Zealand. Any liability issue would appear to be between the government or ACC or Pharmac or Medsafe, and the manufacturer.
If it did happen, it wouldn't be the first time. From The Chairman's link:
Exactly! The indemnity issue is not a health & safety one but a commercial/business decision so that companies feel free to register their product for the NZ market as it lowers their exposure to financial risk/liability in case something goes awry in a previously untested population (think Māori and Pacific Islanders who may have confounding risk factors).
Dude, you've omitted one of the leading alt-covid voices.
///
https://twitter.com/jfreewright/status/1288258615543914497
With the policy the Nats are putting out it is obvious they have realised they have no way of winning the treasury benches this election or next.
The transport policy was just ridiculous. probably undoable given the geology of the Brynderwyns and Kaimais. And uncosted. So not a real policy at all. If they go into 2023 with it, general laughter all around.
The raiding Kiwisaver is just as silly, nonsense really. 70-80% of small busineses fail in the first few years. So no business and a big dent in your retirement savings.
As for the charging of all Kiwis returning. Typical punitive stuff. And given our Bill of rights, probably unenforceable.
Judith has given up. And it shows.
“Heron Report” due at 11am today.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=12352201
Zimbabwe just confirmed a $3.5b deal to compensate white farmers.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/29/africa/zimbabwe-compensation-white-farmers/index.html
Now that would be a really interesting proposal to run in Taranaki – especially to get the European farmers off those Waitara blocks.
Fotunately Mugabe was "interred in a steel-lined coffin under a layer of concrete", to prevent him climbing back out. Well, the family did use a different excuse. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/29/robert-mugabe-buried-steel-coffin-encased-concrete-family-claims/
But, after the spinning, what's the bet he'll be having a go? "Goddam sonsa bitches, no way am I gonna let them get away with that!"
Mugabe was an huge fan of cricket, apparently the white administration played cricket radio commentaries from all around the world into his cell 24 hours a day for years. Hated the game beforehand but realised he had to understand it and love it to stop it from having the effect they wanted.
News from last night: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122286406/mps-reach-across-the-house-to-ban-female-genital-mutilation
Good to see this. The use of lateral thinking by parliamentarians is particularly welcome! Cross-party consensus is rare and I hope they succeed with their initiative to make it easier to get – and also in the international arena. Well done, all involved! 👍
Great stuff.
This is excellent news – thanks for passing that on Dennis F.
Heron must be the most naive bugger in the universe. He didn't check Boags computer because he took her word, she said the bloody stuff came off her computer FFS.
Walker did it to show he wasn't racist, oh FFS he has form so he is.
And where is the howl from the media about why we are still paying Walker. I'm afraid it really grates on this taxpayer that we are tossing him apparently some $60000 to hang around until the election doing who knows what if anything for the electorate. Any other job -he'd have been down the road long time ago.
And an MP throwing a wobbly and leaking info because someone called him a racist, is completely childish.
Also I'm annoyed at the muller puff piece in yesterday's herald. Apparently his mental health difficulties are a result of hamish walkers actions. He won't be returning to Parliament this year but is another nat that is happy to take the pay packet
I don't believe for a moment that the leak was because he was upset over being called racist. This was pure dirty politics aimed at discrediting the government. The 'gosh I was so upset at being called racist' is pure smoke screen and a more 'palatable' story than the truth.
I laughed out loud at the story saying that he just coincidentally called Boag and she just happened to have something on hand to help…bollocks. Why is this story not featured in NZ Herald or Stuff today?
RadioNZ on Walker and his excuse for lacking probity and responsibility that is owed to people and their personal information.
He childishly lashed out because?… Spoilt baby syndrome? Outgoing National MP Hamish Walker told an inquiry he leaked personal Covid-19 patient details to the media due to the "distress of being labelled a racist".
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/422343/covid-19-privacy-leak-was-deliberate-and-politically-motivated-ssc-inquiry-finds
It's how the elite treat each other, it's us below the stairs that are dragged out in handcuffs and our houses turned upside down.
And likewise, Heron took Woodhouse at his word. The mystery homeless man must find comfort in this, at least. They must have gone to school together.
WELL, BUGGAR ME !
Is someone short a weetbix from their box ?
Hamish Walker is still cited giving a misleading excuse to Heron QC and then Heron QC has not appeared to investigate this false justification for its flaws in the reports written findings. Heron's following analysis in the report seems to unwittingly validate Walker instead.
Walker was able to still state along the lines that being distressed about being called a racist because of his actions, ie. from "firing off a press statement warning up to 11,000 people were headed for Southland from India, Pakistan, Korea",
Walker to Heron then finger points deflecting to Boag and a ghost constituent of his.
( NB. The email is only about " confirmed COVID 19 cases as of 9.00am 2 July 2020. ( not the 11,000 Walker needed to validate his claim) Further, the email footer has the Privacy Act prohibitions and the title in caps MEDICAL IN CONFIDENCE )
Again to the investigator, (Heron), Walker MP, is able to still justify his illicit actions using his anger as a motive- similar to his earlier expressions to the media. " Calling me a racist is Labour's default tactic when they are unable to defend their blatant failures. It's not about race," ;
"It's about the countries these Kiwis are coming from.( re NIMBY xenophobia of Koreans, Pakastanis and Indians).
However, the smack in the face flaw is that even now we are to believe that Walker just wanted evidence to prove countries of origins. Walker stated that he was following up a constituent's concern he only " intended to identify the countries the returning New Zealanders were coming from."
The fact is millions of people could already have told Boag and Walker WHERE the confirmed and probable cases came from WITHOUT breaching the law and compromising individual's privacy and safety !!!! For months, then and still anyone can follow origins on a globally accessible public database.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases/covid-19-current-cases-details
Sorry Mr.Walker but BS# to you. Please also note In your time frame up to 2 July people came from … everywhere. Southland should be so lucky.
Loved this analysis by Paul Krugman
"I've long been struck by the intensity of right-wing anger against relatively trivial regulations, like bans on phosphates in detergent and efficiency standards for lightbulbs," Krugman writes. "It's the principle of the thing: many on the right are enraged at any suggestion that their actions should take other people's welfare into account." According to Krugman, far-right Republicans equate irresponsibility with "freedom." "This rage is sometimes portrayed as love of freedom," Krugman observes. "But people who insist on the right to pollute are notably unbothered by, say, federal agents teargassing peaceful protesters. What they call 'freedom' is actually absence of responsibility."
Everybody knows that my predictions are never wrong*, so here they are:
TV1/Colmar Brunton poll at 6 pm –
Lab 52 Nat 35 Greens 4 NZF 2 ACT 4 Others 3
(*except the rogue ones, they didn't count)
I reckon you’ll be about right apart from the Greens will probably be just over the threshold between 5 and 6%.