Open mike 30/09/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 30th, 2020 - 111 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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

Step up to the mike …

111 comments on “Open mike 30/09/2020 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Andre 1
    30 September 2020 at 7:29 am

    A good comprehensive look at where things are at state-by-state for getting to 270 Electoral College votes.

    https://www.vox.com/21428915/electoral-college-trump-biden-2020

    tl;dr Biden is polling ahead of The $750 Man by more than 4% on average in states that add up to about 278 EC votes. That's the states Hillary won plus Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Polls showing Biden behind in these states are very few and far between, and only come from the most Repug-optimistic pollsters.

    Biden is ahead by around 2%ish in Ohio (18 EC votes) and Arizona (11 EC votes). Most polls show Biden ahead, but Repug-optimistic pollsters mostly show Shartacus ahead, along with occasional polls from more middle of the road pollsters.

    Florida (29) and North Carolina (15) average out either way depending on which polls the poll aggregator uses, but most aggregators put Biden ahead around 1%ish in these states.

    On straight current polling average (no toss-ups), it's about 353 Biden – 185 Palputin, again depending on which polling aggregator you're looking at.

    • Ad 1.1
      30 September 2020 at 7:49 am

      About 1% Undecided, and a pretty stable margin, shows that there won't be much more movement.

      I'd like to see IRS take Trump out after the election. And die in jail.

      • Treetop 1.1.1
        30 September 2020 at 7:58 am

        I wouldn't waste my time on Trump. I would put my time into stopping this from happening in the future as there are a lot of $750 Trump's in America.

        • Andre 1.1.1.1
          30 September 2020 at 8:08 am

          Well, yeah. There's a whole party dedicated to creating and protecting those $750 Men. And there's the other party that mostly wants to put a leash on them, however imperfectly.

          But sadly, there’s a sector of the voting public that professes to be against the $750 Men, but spend all their energies whining about those imperfections.

          • Treetop 1.1.1.1.1
            30 September 2020 at 1:22 pm

            How long have the $750 club been getting away with it?

            I don't like it and how to stop it is the problem?

            • Andre 1.1.1.1.1.1
              30 September 2020 at 3:13 pm

              How to stop it is a long slow painful process of being involved, and swallowing a lot of compromise and disappointment. It starts with getting involved at the party level, and supporting the candidate that is likeliest to move things in the direction you want, that actually has a chance of winning in a general election.

              Then when it comes to the general election, again it's a matter of swallowing a dead rat and supporting the candidate most likely to move things in a direction you want that actually has a chance of winning. Which may even be someone inclined to move things a bit in a direction you don't want, in preference to someone inclined to move things hard and fast in a direction you really don't want.

              What definitely doesn't work, but definitely helps the bastards win, is flouncing around whining about the flaws in who is actually your best available choice, which just helps your worst choice actually sneak through and get to do the damage that then has to be repaired next your preferred people get in, before even thinking about moving on to doing useful stuff.

          • Pat 1.1.1.1.2
            30 September 2020 at 1:50 pm

            Could it be that they aspire to join the club?

            After all 'aspirational' is abundant in the contemporary political lexicon.

      • Andre 1.1.2
        30 September 2020 at 8:05 am

        From a polling view, yeah, it's stable and clear. But there's still the open question of how good the pollsters' turnout models are. And whether they've maybe even over-corrected the errors from 2016, which would put Iowa (6), Georgia (16), maybe even Texas (29) and Alaska (3) into play. For over 400 EC votes to Biden.

        It might be New York State that puts him in jail first. They seem to be further along in their investigations. Presidolt Con's current audit problems with the IRS look to be resolvable by just coughing up $100million. But the IRS can always open new investigations, there's no statute of limitations for tax crimes AFAIK.

        Of course, the Fifth Avenue Fraud is very likely to get off completely scot-free for what he most deserves jail for: his complete betrayal of country, oath of office, and the people he is supposed to be governing for. Of whom over 200,000 are now prematurely dead from his complete disinterest in doing his job, among many other criminally negligent failures.

      • Andre 1.2.1
        30 September 2020 at 9:53 am

        Real Clear Politics seems to include a smallish range of pollsters that are a bit Repug-leaning on average. If you prefer to be a bit pessimistic so surprises are a bit more likely to be positive surprises, then yeah, focusing on RCP works.

        • Bearded Git 1.2.1.1
          30 September 2020 at 10:10 am

          Ak ok Andre….in that case it may not be the best indicator.

          Do you have evidence of the Republican bias?

          • Andre 1.2.1.1.1
            30 September 2020 at 10:30 am

            To be clear first up, I don't think there's bias in the sense of deliberately putting a thumb on the scales. There's a lot of room for reasonable minds to differ in constructing turnout models, framing polling questions etc.

            But then some pollsters makes decisions outside of what is generally considered good practice, such as Trafalgar Group explicitly operating a shy-Drumpf-voter hypothesis (although I've never seen what that means in actual practical terms), or Rasmussen Reports explicitly weighting by party identification (which changes at voter whim, unlike age, sex, education, ethnicity etc).

            RCP includes Trafalgar Group and Rasmussen, but there have been times I've noticed some particularly Dem-positive polls from apparently well-regarded pollsters show up in Five ThirtyEight that haven't showed up in RCP (sorry can't immediately bring to mind which ones).

            In general, it appears poll averages from 538, 270 to Win, CNN etc are a little bit Dem-positive compared to RCP. That's not to say RCP is worse and the others are better, it may indeed be that RCP has made a better choice of which pollsters to include in their average.

    • AB 1.3
      30 September 2020 at 12:16 pm

      Among the unknowns then are:

      • Voter suppression in the form of prior electoral roll purging by Republican-run state governments and the removal of physical voting booths in Democratic voting areas
      • Trump goons intimidating voters at booths
      • Delays in counting mail-in votes inflaming a narrative that the election is being 'stolen' and calls, or direct action, on stopping that count.
      • The Supreme Court's preparedness to tip the scales in Trumps favour if given the chance,e.g by stopping the count of mail-in votes, or allowing the dumping of special votes by people turning up to find themselves purged from the roll.

      It has the potential to make the supposed, and sometimes invented, irregularities in Latin American elections that gets the USA so outraged, look like amateur hour.

      • Andre 1.3.1
        30 September 2020 at 3:04 pm

        Well, yeah, there is the assumption that bad faith actions won't be much worse than anything previously seen in, oh, the last hundred years or so. Which is looking like a really iffy assumption, so the question is whether a Biden win would be sufficiently clear and conclusive to overcome all the expected fuckery.

    • Treetop 1.4
      30 September 2020 at 7:00 pm

      Do you know if the EC votes are not equally distributed among the states when it comes to population?

      I think I heard this.

      • Andre 1.4.1
        30 September 2020 at 7:24 pm

        Each state gets one Electoral College vote per member of Congress. So low population states like Wyoming or Alaska get 3 EC votes, one for their sole House Representative, and two for their two Senators. (Washington DC also gets 3 EC votes by special provision, even though it doesn't get voting members of Congress). That's one EC vote per 200,000ish population.

        At the other end of the population range, Californai gets 55 EC votes for its 40 million population, 53 for its 53 House Reps, and two for its two Senators. Which is around 1 EC vote per 700,000ish population.

        There's a good chart if you scroll down the wikipedia article – for some reason embedding the image doesn't seem to work.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College

        edit: and the three million American citizens living in Puerto Rico don’t get to vote for prez or be represented in Congress. Cos PR is a territory, not a state

  2. PsyclingLeft.Always 2
    30 September 2020 at 7:38 am

    "The $750 Man" : )

  3. Reality 3
    30 September 2020 at 8:08 am

    Judith Collins, who takes malicious delight in attacking others, is upset Jacinda referenced her history with the SFO (poor wee thing). I was delighted to see Jacinda's 'forthright' comment on the news reminding people of this.

    Like all bullies, Collins is happy to dish it out though. Perhaps if she can't take the heat in the kitchen she shouldn't be there, to quote Collins' words on Jacinda.

    If anyone has dealt with the heat in the kitchen in the last three years, it is our PM – terrorist shootings, a volcanic eruption, months of Covid worries. And becoming a new mum while being PM is no small feat.

    • Byd0nz 3.1
      30 September 2020 at 9:35 am

      It seems it was hard for Collins to get under Jacindas skin on the last debate. It would not be hard to get under Collins skin as seen by her response to Jacindas comment.

    • Anne 3.2
      30 September 2020 at 10:06 am

      Talking of bullies: read this number from the Herald:

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12369031

      And this from RNZ Morning report:

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018766202

      2:15 mins – another vicious attack on Nicky Hager.

      8:30 mins – claims Labour has no fiscal plans and don’t intend to put one out. So, what has Robertson and Co. been doing and saying for the past 3 years? Nothing? What about the plethora of policy they’ve been dishing out in recent times? That doesn’t constitute a plan?

      She even had the gall to try and infer this government is to blame for the current state of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

      She’s well and truly heading for lala land based on today’s rhetoric thus far.

      • Morrissey 3.2.1
        30 September 2020 at 11:08 am

        She kept saying: "That's what Christians believe… I'm a Christian… That's what Christians believe…"

        Does anyone else get the impression this desperate woman is fishing desperately for the loons in the Billy T.K. Party to "come on board" her sinking boat?

        • greywarshark 3.2.1.1
          30 September 2020 at 1:00 pm

          To put the above in context, Collins is so slippery, it started off with her saying that Nicky Hager was a terrible man and making herself out to be an innocent victim, and then saying that one day he'll meet his Maker.

          When questioned on that she went round and round like dirty water down a plughole, saying that everyone will meet their Maker one day, she is sure on that point. Then being questioned as to the reference sounding rather threatening, she just fudged again and made it into a Christian POV that everyone will die and meet their Maker.

          I'm uneasy that religion is popping up in the discourse from National. It seems that the Right are finding that references like this reinforce their probity in the minds of dull, unthinking constituents of which there are many.

          There is a post now by Micky devoted to this discussion over at – Judith Collins, Nicky Hager and Dirty Politics.

          • woodart 3.2.1.1.1
            30 September 2020 at 2:07 pm

            dont think the natz pollsters are earning their $$$ if they think appealing to religios is the way to redemption. a secular country going even more secular is going to turn even further away from the natz towards their one time poodle. for all of acts faults(page not big enough to list) they are NOT religious(only the religion of self interest) with the nats, advance, and new cons all claiming gods on their side, good luck with that..!oops, forgot bishop brian, phuck, god will be busy..

            • greywarshark 3.2.1.1.1.1
              30 September 2020 at 2:30 pm

              edit
              You might think that is the rational way that citizens will behave woodart, that is for you to say. They might regard religion as meaning traditional sects. But don't forget Glorioushome or what it's called. People are being pulled to churches all over the place, if they aren't drowning themselves in beer or drugs, or using sport to control their random thoughts. Every second child is called Elijah or Rebecca or similar.

              Natz may be very happy to go to a church with bells and whistles and incense and a huge choir. All the people who can’t manage to achieve their eminence will be put on charity, the government doesn’t want to bother with losers. They will hand out potato peelings for soup and feel satisfied and good to their marrow. That’s how it used to be and once you accept that people are either good or part of the poor that will always be with us, then you can stop trying to force people up beyond their actual capacities that establish them as lower class. This is how some will already be talking – the real estate class who think themselves terribly clever at being able to sell secure assets to people prepared to dispossess most of the world’s population.

              The worse things get the more people will be drawn to something. Possibly the Conspiracy Theory party. In the USA they are touting that there will be Trump Goons at the polls etc. Shades of 1930's Germany when people's minds were played with. People aren't happy – alt right, Billy K whatever can fill up empty minds. Take away television for a night and people will be running to the Children of Light or such – Scientology is building a new place here I think.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                30 September 2020 at 3:36 pm

                if they aren't drowning themselves in beer or drugs, or using sport to control their random thoughts.

                And that's the second time that you've said that the non-religious are drug and sports addicts without any proof.

                • woodart …
                  30 September 2020 at 3:47 pm

                  yes, around my way, most seem addicted to lawn mowing on sundays.

                • greywarshark …
                  30 September 2020 at 4:02 pm

                  And why do you need proof? Do you belong to some sort of religious terrorist group which will go and round them all up and kneel for hours on hard boards while they sing rousing songs? Shame on you.

                  • Draco T Bastard …
                    30 September 2020 at 4:09 pm

                    And why do you need proof?

                    Because otherwise its a fucken lie and you are simply lying.

                    • greywarshark …
                      30 September 2020 at 4:42 pm

                      That is really stupid DTB. You are getting fixated on your opinions and arguments as you have got older. People can know things from their memory and not be able to give details of why and when. People can also know things generally and widely that commonly apply, just not to everybody. And you can just calm down and try and remain rational.

                  • Draco T Bastard …
                    30 September 2020 at 5:49 pm

                    People can know things from their memory and not be able to give details of why and when.

                    No, they really can't. People's memories simply aren't up to the job:

                    Unreliable Memory: It Makes Things Up

                    He has told people a story about how his helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade when covering the war in Iraq. However, the fact is that the helicopter he was in was not the one got hit. Also, when the strike happened, his helicopter was an hour away from the strike location. His experience shows a part of the unreliability of human memory.
                    Elizabeth Loftus, a professor the at the University of California who experted in human memory, calls William’s story a “teaching mement,” which is a typical example of false memory. According to her, false memory happens when a person “remembers” something happened that actually did not.

                    People can also know things generally and widely that commonly apply, just not to everybody.

                    No, they can't. That would require you to know stuff that you haven't been taught or researched.

                    And you can just calm down and try and remain rational.

                    I'm perfectly rational in calling you a liar because you're lying. You have absolutely no idea how people spend their time as a result of them not being religious.

                    • Drowsy M. Kram …
                      30 September 2020 at 6:24 pm

                      "You have absolutely no idea how people spend their time as a result of them not being religious."

                      DtB, couldn't your strong assertion (above) also be considered a lie? After all, presumably greywarshark has some idea of how some non-religious people spend some of their time. Heck, I know hardly anyone, and yet your statement would still be a lie if I was its target wink

                    • Draco T Bastard …
                      30 September 2020 at 9:09 pm

                      greywarshark's assertion is on the same level as calling all Māori slackers because some do drugs and don't work on Saturdays.

                      And, here's a thing, I know plenty of religious people who act exactly as greywarshark says non-religious people act. Get a heap of drugs and watch sport on TV.

      • Tony Veitch (not etc.) 3.2.2
        30 September 2020 at 11:37 am

        OMG, she's even beginning to sound like Muldoon as I remember him on the RNZ interview. Scary!

      • greywarshark 3.2.3
        30 September 2020 at 12:41 pm

        Judith Collins and the Eyebrows and Kate Hawkesby (could be called The Palomino Pony) on NZ Herald link above.

  4. Andre 4
    30 September 2020 at 8:30 am

    There's an argument the satsuma shitgibbon really is a genius – at suckering a significant number of people into believing the hype he creates about himself.

    Consider, for at least the last three decades, the only ventures that have apparently created positive cash-flow for him are those where someone else has paid him for use of that self-hype. The Apprentice, various licensing deals. Everything else he touched apparently turned to shit, from which he sometimes salvaged a bit by fleecing suckers hoping to cash in on the hype as they disappear down the gurgler – eg his casinos, and now, running the country.

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/29/the-new-york-times-confirms-trump-is-a-genius-422837

    https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/09/why-is-donald-trump-deliberately-losing-money/

    • gsays 4.1
      30 September 2020 at 9:02 am

      He is certainly good at getting plenty of attention and column inches devoted to his every action/inaction.

      He has folks wrapped around his little finger.

      Whatever we give our attention to gets stronger.

      On a related note, Beau here links Hunter Thompson and post election activities.
      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=abqyq6cs0eo

      • Andre 4.1.1
        30 September 2020 at 9:19 am

        He is certainly good at getting plenty of attention and column inches devoted to his every action/inaction.

        That kinda happens when someone is the leader leader of a big powerful country and devotes himself, well, what little effort isn't spent on serving himself, to actively destroying much of what a majority of that country and indeed the rest of the world holds dear. After he's surrounded himself with enablers that share his destructive goals.

        And no, ignoring it won't make it go away or even make it a teeny-tiny bit better. Nor will deluding oneself that his opponents are somehow equivalent.

  5. greywarshark 5
    30 September 2020 at 9:15 am

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/427208/regional-pasifika-churches-receive-10m-from-pgf

    I hope that the attitude of government after Treaty settlements is not that Maori people generally are not going to be considered much by government, and they should look to their own iwi for support. The Treaty settlements were to recompense, to a small extent, for the land and resources taken from Maori which the NZ state was built on.

    So I hope that there is $10 million or more going to Maori initiatives in the region, not necessarily for the built infrastructure, but in training, skills learning. And I would like to see it being family oriented so that older members could join as students if they wished, so all would learn as a cohesive group. Because I think that there is a family way of looking at life planning, and parents are more likely to support their teenagers into skill learning if they themselves have background in post-school education.

  6. greywarshark 6
    30 September 2020 at 9:21 am

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018765675/rise-of-nz-mma-reaches-new-high-at-ufc-253

    What is MMA? Increasing use of code letters for actual words, prevents effective communication. No explanation in the script.

  7. Andre 7
    30 September 2020 at 9:39 am

    Yet another reason the US supreme Court badly needs reform because of how unrepresentative it is: after Barrett is rammed through, it will be 2/3 Roman Catholic.

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/29/1981656/-A-Curious-Demographic-Fact-About-the-SCOTUS-It-is-Dominated-by-a-Single-Religion

    • greywarshark 7.1
      30 September 2020 at 9:56 am

      That recalls to mind a Sharon Murdoch cartoon (stuff Sep.25/19) about NZ religion with wise old Yoda saying 'Religious we are not'. 50% of NZ stated No Religion in a survey. The Catholics get and hold their congregations by hook or by crook – of The Good Shepherd I mean.

      The irreligious may not fill the gap with any value-based morality, rather spending Sundays at sport, drinking beer, driving 4-wheel drives through mud pugs, up rivers – very physically oriented with no exercise of intellectual or philosophical function. So other details from the NZ study:

      20,409 said they were Jedi
      4248 were in The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

      • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1
        30 September 2020 at 12:42 pm

        The irreligious may not fill the gap with any value-based morality, rather spending Sundays at sport, drinking beer, driving 4-wheel drives through mud pugs, up rivers – very physically oriented with no exercise of intellectual or philosophical function.

        1. Citation needed
        2. Haven't come across a religion yet that's values based – except possibly wicca with its an it harm none, do as thou wilt.
    • Gabby 7.2
      30 September 2020 at 9:56 am

      The latest Scrotus nominee is just another shade of Mammonite by the sound of t.

    • Dennis Frank 7.3
      30 September 2020 at 10:47 am

      Design or accident? There's a little-known conspiracy theory around this. It has been provided with considerable historical documentation.

      My view of the catholic church was always that it was a sick joke discredited by history, until I eventually read my copy of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Rulers-Evil-Useful-Knowledge-Governing/dp/0066210836

      The author dug deep & zealously into the background of history, so you encounter a stream of surprising facts unlikely to impress casual readers. Only works for those with a deep grasp of history – if it fits into that context. As someone who has read history in-depth for around 65 years, I was pleasantly surprised at how well-justified his compilation of evidence turned out to be.

      Note the amusing verdict of Publisher's Weekly – obviously written by a catholic! Too lazy to read history, uses normalcy as a security blanket due to being at the toddler stage of emotional maturity…

      That said, I can always tell when a belief is warping a writer's judgment, and Saussy skates on thin ice at times. But he does seem diligent at dispassionate appraisal.

      Winning the presidency for JFK was the culmination of a centuries-old agenda, in which a global power began in new terrain from a position of uncharacteristic powerlessness and extreme adversity. The account of methods used to overturn that historical reality is compelling. The current Supreme Court situation fits the thesis like a glove.

  8. Sabine 8
    30 September 2020 at 9:47 am

    So i am not wasting your time, you are wasting it all on your own, as you could easily have simply scrolled by my comment, which is on topic, without insults to anyone, and not deragotry by any means. But feel free to ban me for not promoting some fancyful ideas of the Green that i find to be half baked.

    [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]

    [No Sabine, as a moderator I can’t simply scroll by. If mods did that on every problematic comment, the site would stop functioning.

    As well as wasting my time, you’re also now posting bullshit about moderation and my motivations. I want critique of GP policy, because it makes it and democracy stronger. I wish more people would give us useful critique. What you posted was sloppy and misleading. I can’t stop people being sloppy, but there is a bottom line around not misleading. You’re not being modded for your opinions about the Greens’ policy, you’re being modded for posting misleading comments about the policy during an election campaign. Had you backed up your comment, we’d be having a different conversation, but you won’t even do us the respect of that.

    You either have a comprehension problem, or you are basically saying fuck you to the site and moderation and thinking you can do what you want.

    You have a choice now. Either do what most people do and get on board with the way commenting works here, including moderation, or you can expect to be treated as a special case. If you want to be a special case, my next move will most likely be to ban you until after the election, because I’m not willing to spend my time going over and over this, I’d rather be writing posts.

    Banned until Monday – weka].

  9. Sabine 9
    30 September 2020 at 9:48 am

    read, and left you an aswer. cheers.
    and i would have preferred to leave my comments so that i can provide back up. I am usually good with links.

    [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]

    • weka 9.1
      30 September 2020 at 10:10 am

      you were asked to back up this sentence, which is still visible.

      "so if you are over 18 or say 18 and a day – money or not – no more free public transport."

      You chose not to. Hence the further moderation.

  10. Tricledrown 10
    30 September 2020 at 10:02 am

    Collins tries to brush off the meet your maker comment by adding a different line to her original threat .

    Still trying to put down Nicky Hager for exposing Dirty Politics.

  11. Pat 11
    30 September 2020 at 10:07 am

    Brilliant piece at The Civilian this morning

    “Listen, if I pick up a bag of $1,000 cash in the South Island and I deposit that into a private bank account and wire the money to another private bank account in the North Island, and then someone else withdraws that $1,000 from a relatively unfrequented ATM at 2am in the morning, is that money the same money? How did it magically teleport from island to island? The answer is it didn’t, because it isn’t the same money. It’s separate.”

    http://www.thecivilian.co.nz/two-people-in-serious-condition-after-incident-involving-nz-first-bus/

    remember to look both ways when crossing bus lanes.

  12. Morrissey 12
    30 September 2020 at 10:49 am

    Aaron Maté testifies at UN on OPCW Syria cover-up

    Sept. 29, 2020

    Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

    [deleted]

    https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/29/grayzones-aaron-mate-testifies-at-un-on-opcw-syria-cover-up/

    [too long Morrissey. If you do your own editing next time it will work out better – weka]

    • Andre 12.1
      30 September 2020 at 11:06 am

      Hmmm, the only info I can find about this comes from Mate. Nothing from anybody with a shred of credibility.

      It's apparently an Arria-formula meeting. Any member of the Security Council can call one for whatever reason they feel like. It has zero actual significance within the UN that I can tell. I wonder which Security Council member called it? It would be unkind of me to speculate based on who is "testifying" at it.

      Looks to me like it's another bullshit stunt similar to the one Eva Bartlett pulled to generate clickbait misinformation falsely trying to give themselves the credibility of the UN, that gullible convergence moonbats will then amplify and spread.

      • Morrissey 12.1.1
        30 September 2020 at 11:26 am

        And you're having a go at Eva Bartlett too, I note. Do you think anyone other than you thinks your "convergence moonbat" concoction has ever impressed anyone other than the sad fellows who spend all day dreaming up orange-themed and gibbon-themed labels to fling at President Drumpf?

        Your tactical decision to go all the way with those brilliant strategists of the DNC is leading you into wholesale abuse of journalists. I'm sure that in your more reflective moments, i.e. away from the adrenaline-filled arena of social media squabbling, you realize you are making some foolish and indefensible choices. Heaping abuse on journalists—and Eva Bartlett and Aaron Maté are, like Nicky Hager, renowned for their integrity and independence—is a foolish and indefensible choice if ever there was one.

        Still, going all the way with the democracy-hating Democratic Party—the Obama/Biden regime prosecuted, imprisoned and persecuted whistleblowers and journalists even more than the Bush/Cheney regime, and leading Democrats are as bloodthirsty in their rhetoric against Julian Assange as any Repug. is—is a choice you have made. We at this mostly excellent forum have had to put up with the evidence of that almost every day for the last four years.

        • Andre 12.1.1.1
          30 September 2020 at 12:45 pm

          You got any argument for why this thing from Aaron Mate should be viewed as anything more than an attempted deceptive misinformation stunt?

          BTW, that looks to me like quite a smear on Nicky Hager. I'd be curious to hear how Hager himself feels about being being lumped in with Bartlett and Mate.

    • Morrissey 12.2
      30 September 2020 at 1:30 pm

      Sorry about that. I did edit it, but not enough, clearly.

  13. Morrissey 13
    30 September 2020 at 11:11 am

    So Aaron Maté does not have a "shred of credibility"? Well, of course you would say that, wouldn't you. You sound just like Mrs Collins denigrating another journalist this morning.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018766202

    Okay, you can get back to your MSNBC feed now.

  14. Janet 14
    30 September 2020 at 11:11 am

    In the Herald this morning :

    “Two of the country's biggest companies will use Aotearoa in their names rather than New Zealand.”

    Both companies Vodafone and DDB, are branches of big international companies.

    DDB is part of DDB Worldwide, an Omnicom company a highly ranked, worldwide advertising agency. Includes company information and philosophy, clients, and global contact information.

    If our country is up for renaming then it is for New Zealanders to instigate and decide not for international companies to stick their oar into and stir up discontent in our nation.

    • Draco T Bastard 14.1
      30 September 2020 at 1:03 pm

      Seems that the government agrees with you:

      The committee also noted that there are references throughout legislation to both “Aotearoa” and “New Zealand” and that while not legislated, the use of bilingual titles throughout Parliament and government agencies is common.

      "However, at present we do not consider that a legal name change, or a referendum on the same change, is needed", the committee said.

      Still, I'm amazed that Māori aren't up in arms about its misuse as, traditionally, it didn't refer to all of NZ:

      Before the period of contact with Europeans, Māori did not have a commonly-used name for the entire New Zealand archipelago. As late as the 1890s the name was used in reference to the North Island only; an example of this usage appeared in the first issue of Huia Tangata Kotahi, a Māori-language newspaper published on February 8, 1893. It contained the dedication on the front page, "He perehi tenei mo nga iwi Maori, katoa, o Aotearoa, mete Waipounamu",[9] meaning "This is a publication for the Māori tribes of the North Island and the South Island".

    • greywarshark 14.2
      30 September 2020 at 1:21 pm

      Good point Janet. I consider that for business New Zealand is a brand name and the official one we want to be known by.

      I don't know what is going on in the minds of these large corps but they might be trying some diviseness, perhaps making deals that suit Maori and don't fit in with the official country laws, and playing one off against the other. There will be money in it, it's just playing for advantage to them.

      Legal eagles, can we stop this use of Aotearoa as alternative name for New Zealand being done by force majeure?

      I don't like this business of using Maori names for everything, it confuses. It should be noted that English is the main business and computer language, and while I think we should be talking te reo frequently I see disadvantages for the country in naming basic agencies and methods in Maori. It is confusing to hear the Transport Authority called something else starting with Ko… What? is the reaction. Then one wonders, is it the same as the TA? Has it changed in the way it performs its role? Can important matters fall through the cracks when a Maori word is inserted in dialogue? Does it mean a number of things and the effect of it is misunderstood?

      Think of Oranga Tamariki – what does that convey to most? If it was called the Baby Health and Safety Removal Agency that would result in clarity of purpose, no confusion. But the Maori name implies that culturally appropriate, kind and acceptable methods will be used.

    • RedBaronCV 14.3
      30 September 2020 at 8:08 pm

      Actually I really like the use of dual names – then we can get to pick the one that suits Mt Taranaki or Mt Egmont. It also cuts off a lot of divisive baiting along the lines of Brash and his Hobson pledge framing and straight out arguments over which name to use. Although I notice over time the european name tends to fall into disuse.

      And at some level why were local place names over ridden by the names of dodgy british aristocrats – its a bit urrgh. I mean if they were being named today how keen would anyone be on Boristown or Dodgy Dave Cameron Street?

      So I think its good that overseas companies acknowledge this – even if the motivation is commercial.

      Our passports use both names and frankly I think they are an absolute work of art. Don't know who thought of it or did it but all credit they are wonderful. I have even had it admired by overseas passport officers.

  15. greywarshark 15
    30 September 2020 at 12:01 pm

    There was a thought that religion might be raising its head in our politics in a way that isn't positive. I think, with a shiver from looking at Trump's latest conservative Catholic to the Supreme Court, and the doings of some male-dominant states turning women's rights to women's wrongs.

    I put up a Wikipedia piece on European wars that had religion firmly mixed in them on Daily Review 29/9. This is a second para to that. I found it fascinating and alarming.

    The conflicts began with the minor Knights' Revolt (1522), followed by the larger German Peasants' War (1524–1525) in the Holy Roman Empire. Warfare intensified after the Catholic Church began the Counter-Reformation in 1545 against the growth of Protestantism. The conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which devastated Germany and killed one-third of its population, a mortality rate twice that of World War I. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) broadly resolved the conflicts by recognising three separate Christian traditions in the Holy Roman Empire: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.

    Although many European leaders were "sickened" by the bloodshed by 1648, smaller religious wars continued to be waged in the post-Westphalian period until the 1710s, including the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639–1651) on the British Isles, the Savoyard–Waldensian wars (1655–1690), and the Toggenburg War (1712) in the Western Alps.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wars_of_religion

  16. Adrian 16
    30 September 2020 at 1:24 pm

    It is not surprising that the Catholic Church was so involved in all of this history as it generally did all of those services that governments do today from census to education and health and science research and oversaw a lot of legal stoushes as well as diplomacy and defence and pretty much anything else you can think of.

    In most places it was the government as rulers were pretty inept.

  17. greywarshark 17
    30 September 2020 at 1:35 pm

    Mmm well we are still with inept government despite training in Hogwarts academy etc. Religion has learned a thing or two also but tends to be dogmatic more than government, putting pressure on govt from outside. Church government would be hell, it would take just a short time to get there. In the USA it and money and power are interwoven – best to control it and sit the dog outside the door – keep it as part of an ethics committee.

  18. Morrissey 18
    30 September 2020 at 1:40 pm

    King of Nothing nominates Sleepy Joe for a… (wait for it!!!!)… Peace Prize

    When you belong to Tony Blair's party, then you will quite likely have a predilection for war criminals…

    https://www.rt.com/usa/501987-biden-nobel-peace-nomination/

  19. Fireblade 19
    30 September 2020 at 1:43 pm

    If anyone wants to watch the first US Presidential Debate online, it will be live on C-Span's YouTube channel at 2pm NZT.

    • Morrissey 19.1
      30 September 2020 at 1:51 pm

      The Terminally Bewildered versus the Unspeakably Disgusting. As Jacinda Ardern so memorably said about the hastily put together Collins-Brownlee posters: "It doesn't exactly scream Dynamic Duo."

    • mauī 19.2
      30 September 2020 at 3:47 pm

      Thank goodness the left chose sleepy Joe.. to take on Trump. Such energy, strength, communication skills, and lack of political baggage!

    • lprent 19.3
      30 September 2020 at 3:49 pm

      Anyone watching it here?

      My partner was, but she muttered something about "unwatchable", "can't stop talking", and "I wonder what his base makes of this"… and stopped.

      By which I gather that Trump is making his usual pillock performance being a ignorant fuckwit full of himself…

      • Andre 19.3.1
        30 September 2020 at 4:05 pm

        Didn't watch any of it. Actually, I doubt I'd have the fortitude to watch it even on pain of getting cattle-prodded if my attention wavered.

        But from the commentary, it sounds like it went as everyone expected going into it. The mandarin manutang made a lot of nonsensical contradictory noise unrelated to the actual question in his Asshole-in-Chief routine, and Biden mostly let him do his thing in a low-key way.

        Nobody has mentioned anything that even vaguely resembles a debate moment that people will refer in the future – no "there you go again" or anyone looking at their watch, or looking pasty and sweaty with a 5 o'clock shadow. So all-in-all, kind of a pointless waste of everyone's time.

        • Andre 19.3.1.1
          30 September 2020 at 4:27 pm

          Unless maybe both Biden and Chris Wallace literally telling the orange anusmouth mouth to shut up might get used as a symbol to illustrate just how unrestrained Dolt45 actually was.

          • The Al1en 19.3.1.2.1
            30 September 2020 at 6:00 pm

            No clanger, and fortunately for Biden and non Trump supporters, he got the best jabs in on the night.

            Not coming over as king prick and making it clear to the unswayed voters you're okay and worth the benefit of the doubt over your opponent, is the real purpose behind these debates. Getting it through how he is the Democratic party, that any green deal will be his plan, will probably help win a few more votes… Unless they were the kind that were never going to vote for him anyway and just looking for an excuse, like happens on here from the usual suspects, most of the time come every election.

            • mauī 19.3.1.2.1.1
              30 September 2020 at 9:34 pm

              Generally in a debate if you're on the defensive and forced into discussing your opponent's talking points, then its not a great sign… The clip above was fairly typical of the debate, Trump was literally running rings around Biden. "Weekend at Bidens" has literally nothing going for him to attract swing voters, especially in a live performance where his opponent has all the energy.

              • The Al1en …
                30 September 2020 at 9:48 pm

                For the second time tonight, that wasn't the debate I watched, but more importantly, not the one the media or general public saw – Going by the general reaction and collective Trump bashing.

                By the way, not seen your Biden's new green deal clanger mentioned, which somewhat sort of hacks away the patellas of your point.

      • mickysavage 19.3.2
        30 September 2020 at 4:30 pm

        I saw about half of it. Trump has a real skill. He is able to insert a distinct and separate lie into every sentence that he utters.

  20. greywarshark 20
    30 September 2020 at 1:57 pm

    Neo lib has come along like a new religion – belief and promises of a smooth running business heaven are mingled. Neolib doesn't mind if it turns freemen into serfs and at the same time telling them that they are not disregarded objects of charity like those on benefits. So workers getting sacked from their old jobs become contractors, standing tall, alone and proud not like the welfare whiners they think.

    But neolib is a business and money-gouging conception. The Press has a sorry tale about the contractors to a small lone builder who has absorbed the More business virus and is erecting legal entities, building, using his subbies as credit providers they claim, not paying them, dismantling the legal entity and starting off again the same, though it is supposed to be against the explicit law. Also the builder quotes Master Builders membership though he has been struck off, and a recommendation by a well-known name. Looks good, smells very bad for the No Regulations Friendly Country. Blah……..

    https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20200929/281479278859135
    Debt-ridden builder has new outfit – Sep.29/20
    …The Companies Act says a director cannot run what is known as a phoenix company – one trading in the same business using the same or a similar name as their failed one – before or within five years after the liquidation…

    May Moncur, an Auckland law employment advocate, believed too many businesses were using liquidation as a way of avoiding their liabilities. They keep the business running by starting up another company, and continue as normal.

    ‘‘In New Zealand, putting a company into liquidation is so easy and not expensive. There is a loophole in the law.’’

    .
    A year old Australian story which has a lot of fibre in it!
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/debt-ridden-builder-s-anti-semitic-texts-over-pratt-raheen-project-20190331-p519e7.html

    • Draco T Bastard 20.1
      30 September 2020 at 2:21 pm

      Liquidation of a business should result in the owners of that business:

      • Losing everything that they own (including trusts) to pay their debts
      • Not allowed to own or run a business for 5 years
      • Not allowed to be in management/administration of a business for 5 years

      Then we may get rid of these thieves.

      • Bearded Git 20.1.1
        30 September 2020 at 2:43 pm

        Agree draco

      • RedBaronCV 20.1.2
        30 September 2020 at 3:01 pm

        There are some rules around owner distributions that can be clawed back but there is a cost to the civil action so it often doesn't get actioned.

        But I would expect the IRD in the current climate to oppose the liquidation and strike off of companies that have received any of the wage subsidies or loans to prevent the owners taking the money and then collapsing the entity until they have confirmed that it is all valid. And the IRD should make that public.

        On the upside the physical fleeing of jurisdiction is not quite as easy as before.

        • Draco T Bastard 20.1.2.1
          30 September 2020 at 3:33 pm

          There are some rules around owner distributions that can be clawed back but there is a cost to the civil action so it often doesn't get actioned.

          Yes, a civil action that the workers, who can't afford legal council, have to do and there ends justice.

          But I would expect the IRD in the current climate

          I think the IRD need to be doing that as a matter of course every time that a liquidation occurs. If they don't then we end up with the above which pretty much is state sanctioned theft.

          • RedBaronCV 20.1.2.1.1
            30 September 2020 at 6:59 pm

            The civil action can be any creditors but yes waged employees can lose a lot of money in some of these situations as even their preferred status frequently doesn't cover them off.

            I have always wondered why the law and unions don't ask for wages to be transferred out of companies at the gross amounts owed. For a really simple example net wages are paid, taxes go to the IRD and then a further amount to cover any holiday pay, long service leave, redundancies etc gets paid off to a "trust account" managed by a third party which could be say the IRD. Then if everything goes to custard the amounts in trust cover the employee entitlements. Businesses would then get a heads up earlier that they are not making money and they would not be relying on the employee based free funding that can be pretty substantial.

    • RedBaronCV 20.2
      30 September 2020 at 2:56 pm

      I had a quick look and the old company appears to have collected the wage subsidy and it's extension.

      • greywarshark 20.2.1
        30 September 2020 at 3:31 pm

        The government and its agencies might be being hoist on their own petard. How soon can we undermine this cumbersome inadequate agency that we thought we paid taxes to to keep things going reasonably sweetly? They have reduced regulations, and everything else, but the MPs show signs of being Mr Creosote's family. Give ya a technicolour chunder as Barry McKenzie used to say.

  21. Koff 21
    30 September 2020 at 2:42 pm

    My partner and I are voting in the NZ GE today – Kiwis in Oz are the first in the world to vote, although they said on ABC radio this morning that only 40,000 kiwis out of the 600,000 here are enrolled. The voting process is a bit of a mission. Forms have to be downloaded, then filled in, and then scanned and uploaded back on to the NZ Elections site. I wonder what the percentage of voters would be if everyone had to do that? (there are a few polling stations open in Oz, but nowhere near us)

    • Draco T Bastard 21.1
      30 September 2020 at 2:47 pm

      If it's a PDF ask them if you can edit it directly then send it back. Save having to print it out, scan it and then send it.

      • Koff 21.1.1
        30 September 2020 at 2:57 pm

        No. They have to be printed, then signed in front of a witness! The odd thing is that the witness can be anyone in your family. Remember doing it before in 2017 – from Fiji. The other odd thing is that when you upload the forms your name and ref number is sent with your referendum, electorate and party votes. It doesn't seem very secret.

        • Draco T Bastard 21.1.1.1
          30 September 2020 at 3:30 pm

          The other odd thing is that when you upload the forms your name and ref number is sent with your referendum, electorate and party votes. It doesn't seem very secret.

          It's never been secret except possibly in the dark days of the 19th and early 20th century. Need to be able to check off the voter according to the voter registration so as to prevent people voting twice, people voting who shouldn't be etcetera.

  22. RedBaronCV 22
    30 September 2020 at 3:11 pm

    On a completely different topic "kindness". I have seen a number of peeps saying something along the lines of "NZ is not being kind" usually when they have been told "no" to something they want which is well outside the rules. Mostly I see this as just complaining when they don't get their own way.

    I see "kindness" as something that is "given freely" not some thing that anyone should expect to receive (nice though it is when it happens) and be entitled to complain about if they don't .

    But is this just me ??

    • karol121 22.1
      30 September 2020 at 3:49 pm

      It's an interpretation thing, Red Baron CV. And it is sometimes misinterpreted.

      To clarify things for you from my perspective:

      Often, when I don't get my own way I act in a kindly way to myself by both being pissed off about not getting my own way and sometimes expressing to others that I am pissed off also.

      They, in turn, then start being kind to themselves by telling me to shut up and to stop complaining.

      It’s called the kindness cycle.

    • greywarshark 22.2
      30 September 2020 at 3:56 pm

      It could be that you choose to ameliorate a siuation when you could have been punitive or dismissive.

      But people who have been brought up to expect a positive response to everything they want are suffering from the indulgent decades, those reflecting Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness.

      Or: Imagine a world where leaders are able to pass power directly to their children. These children are plucked from their nurseries and sent to beautiful compounds far away from all the other children. They are given the best teachers, the best facilities, the best doctors and the best food. Each day the children are told that the reason they're here is because they are the brightest and most important children in the world.

      https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/posh-boys-9781786073839/

    • woodart 22.3
      30 September 2020 at 4:04 pm

      good post redbaron. no, its not just you. we live in a "give them an inch, and they want the whole quarter acre" society nowdays. and the media make headlines out of moaners. what was it last week, "quarantine food so horrible they had to eat their own shoes" or some such bullshit. I would say NZ is being exceptionally kind , and having a close friend who is working nights for immigration, talking to, and finding solutions for kiwis, from countries you havent heard of, needing all sorts of things that are well outside the box , has certainly opened my mind.

      • RedBaronCV 22.3.1
        30 September 2020 at 4:25 pm

        I did see one food post where it looked like the budget company employed had done a dreadful job. Plus it had supplied coke and lemonade as lunchtime drinks. I'd have been pretty annoyed with that if I had had kids. Sugar highs in hotels rooms. I do suspect the food reflects the underlying grade of the hotel and the prfits they are trying to wrench off the contracts.

  23. Scud 23
    30 September 2020 at 3:49 pm

    Well according to those I follow on Twitter I didn’t miss much on the 2 grumpy old muppets of Bernie and Waldorf from the US Presidential Debate this morning. Thank god & for its various faults that we have the Westminster System in NZ & in Oz unless someone corrects me.

  24. JohnSelway 24
    30 September 2020 at 4:09 pm

    Good god that debate was painful

  25. karol121 25
    30 September 2020 at 4:53 pm

    Just referring to Woodart's post and the misreporting he mentioned regarding people in quarantine said to have been eating their shoes.

    All I can say is that if they did have to eat their shoes, they don't know how lucky were!

    I was imprisoned by WINZ for an extended period of time, and then forced to eat my hat after I had previously told people that I would eat the damn thing if I ever found welfare dependency to be harsher than being gainfully employed or in business.

    Well, it was harsher and I have had indigestion ever since.

    Which brings me to a linked subject which is Covid-19 handouts.

    My view is that if New Zealanders find themselves with their heads above the sour milk and bitter honey welfare dependency mammary gland feed, they should take whatever handouts are available to keep them to get them through, whether employed or in business, whilst the handout money is still flowing. They should take the money with no feelings of guilt whatsoever.

    The choice of walking from a failing business or a job with fewer fringe benefits might actually lead to permanent subsistence welfare dependency even after reaching superannuation eligibility age, unless people have a guaranteed accommodation arrangement already in place and already paid for.

    Don't walk away to the dole queue unless you have no other choice. In the long run, it just ain't worth it.

    Look. Even if you have to bend (not break) government rules and ignore certain societal fostered assertions in relation to start up enterprise or self reliance, if you can do it with a chance of success, then give it a try.

    Given that my current financial disposition appears precarious, I may now withdraw from these read and post sessions (as enlightening and entertaining as they have been) and seek to find some way I can use my spare time to an obtain extra, and hopefully a more reliable, income source.

    Adios

  26. observer 26
    30 September 2020 at 4:56 pm

    A poll from East Coast, looks good for Kiri Allan:

    http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/local-news/20200930/allan-ahead-in-labour-poll/

    (and "commissioned by" doesn't mean "conducted by", e.g. Curia and UMR do polls for National/Labour, but they are still real polls).

    The party vote numbers show a big swing, too. The numbers in 2017 were very close to the nationwide total (Nat 44 Lab 36).

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Stories of varying weight

    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on anything you may have missed. Share Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 hours ago
  • Balancing External Security and the Economy

    New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    18 hours ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: The unravelling of the offsets

    The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • What makes us tick

    This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    23 hours ago
  • Foreshore and seabed 2.0

    In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the Royal Commission report into abuse in care

    Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 26-July-2024

    Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • God what a relief

    1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Trust In Me

    Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 26

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care report released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced $802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Radical law changes needed to build road

    The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30 2024

    Open access notables Could an extremely cold central European winter such as 1963 happen again despite climate change?, Sippel et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics: Here, we first show based on multiple attribution methods that a winter of similar circulation conditions to 1963 would still lead to an extreme seasonal ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • First they came for the Māori

    Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

    Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Will the real PM Luxon please stand up?

    Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    2 days ago
  • Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

    Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Care report in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Olywhites and Time Bandits

    About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Why were the 1930s so hot in North America?

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson Those who’ve trawled social media during heat waves have likely encountered a tidbit frequently used to brush aside human-caused climate change: Many U.S. states and cities had their single hottest temperature on record during the 1930s, setting incredible heat marks ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago
  • Throwback Thursday – Thinking about Expressways

    Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • The Possum: Demon or Friend?

    Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago
  • Not a story

    Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry published its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • A tougher line on “proactive release”?

    The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • 'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

    TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Lester's Prescription – Positive Bleeding.

    I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Casey Costello gaslights Labour in the House

    Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone icon on the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Why is the Texas grid in such bad shape?

    This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Headline from 2021 The Texas grid, run by ERCOT, has had a rough few years. In 2021, winter storm Uri blacked out much of the state for several days. About a week ago, Hurricane Beryl knocked out ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on a textbook case of spending waste by the Luxon government

    Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LXR Takaanini

    As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    3 days ago
  • Four kilograms of pain

    Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Luxon gets caught out

    NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A worrying sign

    Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet…

    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 19

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024

    Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Accelerating Northland Expressway

    The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

    Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.    “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024.  “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane.    “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says.   “This will be our third visit to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

    Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

    New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board

    In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.  “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum

    Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum.  While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation.  “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan.  “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

    The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

    The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

    Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership

    New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.    “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns

    New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • 'Pacific Futures'

    President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests.    Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone.    Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-07-27T00:08:03+00:00