‘The government has no plans to sell New Zealand Post despite the company continuing to struggle with fewer postal deliveries, Finance Minister Bill English says.’
No, NZ post won’t be sold – the postal services are not worth anything. Kiwibank will be split and that will be sold. English could make no comment on Kiwibank being split off from NZ Post. The only reason to split would be to sell off the profitable part (Kiwibank)
Hooton bathes in his own celebrity. Hmm let me guess who his main client is these days?
Probably deals in milk powder, swamp kauri and bottled water. Just happens to have a wife who is a power hungry Minister who is not adverse to knocking over rivals.
Little is not that much of an idiot Matthew to call you out. Tickets please…tickets please…clipping tickets for a price!
“Some of which are highly paid PR consultants I might add.”
They also give someone from the left the same opportunity. At least Mr Hooton criticisms his own side (often very vigorously). The current representative from the left seems to just be an apologist for everything Labour does.
“They also give someone from the left the same opportunity. At least Mr Hooton criticisms his own side (often very vigorously). The current representative from the left seems to just be an apologist for everything Labour does.”
Poor Gosman. He can’t tell the difference between a coherent argument that can be debated and a line of PR that is designed to manipulate the listener towards a certain bias. Or maybe he can 😉
Some would say Hooton works to keep Collins at the top of the peaking order of Natcorp. It is in her best interests to crack Key every now and then. Bennett is Key’s pet so trimming her up also serves Collins.
And we’re seeing this lack of maintenance around the world. US engineers estimate that the US infrastructure needs trillions of dollars spent on it. Political response? Cut taxes on the rich and cut social spending including spending on infrastructure.
Makes me wonder just how bad NZs infrastructure is because we’ve been doing exactly the same for the last 30 years.
Diary Spy
By LabourVoices · March 26, 2016
Parliament wasn’t sitting this week, so in lieu of the Whipping Post, here’s the week that was outside the House.
Just listened to Andrew Little being interviewed on Morning Report regarding his views on politicians being attacked on social media. It was so bad I felt sorry for him. Why did he try and make a political point on this topic?
Just read Gosman shitstirring on The Standard this morning regarding his feelings about politicians being political. It was so pathetic I felt sorry for him. Why did he try and make an astroturfing point out of this topic?
Is there a website where we can see copies of all the flags submitted for consideration? Failing that, the shortlisted flags before the “expert kiwis” rejected them. Also, we know how the politicians voted but has anyone asked the “panel” how they voted? Wonder if any of them still preferred the original.
there are a few really good designs amongst them.
But frankly i hope to never ever have to see a design from that Lockwood dude. He had way to many entries. Maybe they should have just limited it to one entry per person, and we would have gotten a bit more choice.
In saying that….Hypno Flag and Laser Kiwi….t’would have been a hard choice.
All five of the Lockwood designs in the top 40 were the same thing in different colours (one of them had previously won a Devonport design a flag competition, but couldn’t say which). The peculiar thing is just how based around the fern they were, considering that he can’t draw a fern for sour apples. Sven Baker also had four different designs in the longlist, but at least they were all different (5 different kinds of repulsive). Any future flag design panel should have a one finalist per designer rule (some designers and vexillogists would help too).
Personally, I liked Frizell’s black&green Manawa design, but the black jack was good too:
lets not speak about this….erosion of benefits – no not the bludger benefits like unemployment benefits or single parent benefits – they obviously need to be as low as possible to get people to ‘choose’ work instead of ‘live on the dole’, no the other good benefits like Accom Supplement ( i was told by a WINZ drone it is not a ‘benefit), Student Allowances, WFF, Legal Aid……… http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/78333951/some-government-benefits-are-quietly-being-eroded-at-the-expense-of-families
“EROSION OF SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS
Student allowance is a fairness mechanism there to help the children of poorer families get a tertiary education.
Whether a student gets it or not depends on their income, and those of their parents.
The parental income levels have been frozen since April 2012, and will not be inflation-adjusted from their current levels until March 2019.
The number of people getting the allowance has fallen from nearly 70,000 in 2011 to about 54,000 in 2015.
The amount paid dropped from $78.8 million to $58.7m. A similar decline happened for student accommodation allowance.”
We need an NZ version of this. Read the whole piece for best effect. An Open Letter To All Supporters Of The TPP
Now, the legislative bodies of twelve Pacific Rim countries are presented with a secretively created trade agreement and encouraged to approve it WITHOUT ANY MODIFICATIONS. This agreement simply builds on and greatly expands the corruptive practices that previous corporate created agreements have had.
It is critical that the media accepts its moral responsibility and honestly inform the public at large of the detailed ramifications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). After all, this is the largest trade deal in history and was created by a cabal of international corporations and bankers who explicitly stated that it was designed to counter the enormous economic influence of China. However, that is a rather narrow expression of what a more complete examination of its underlying objectives reveal.
While continually excluding the public, lobbyist from some of the largest corporations and banks in the world created this agreement. It is designed to maximize profits at the expense of the rest of humanity. Among those who were not invited to be involved in its creation, were representatives of labor organizations, environmentalist, civil rights organizations, international human rights organizations, advocates for an open Internet, the medical community and numerous other groups of similar ilk.
This agreement provides more international protections for these large corporations and financial groups when it comes to intellectual property, patents, trademarks, copyrights, loans, securities and global franchise agreements. At the same time, there are minimal to no protections for workers, small investors, health workers, consumers, the Internet, personal privacy or the environment.
John Gascoigne is good in the Herald today. In particular:
“New Zealanders are told they have a “rock-star economy” and are doing well. But they also experience low wages, almost 6 per cent unemployment, job insecurity, housing unaffordability, crippling student and national debt, homelessness, a metastasising underclass, grotesque inequality, desolate communities and so on. But we are doing well, apparently.”
Agreed saveNZ. I wonder if there is a strategy here directed by Joyce/Crosby Textor to drown out the debate on genuine policies. Some quiet words at BBQ’s and cocktail parties-nothing in writing of course;”keep up the trolling pressure chaps”.
IMO the only way to fight fire is with fire-attack Key at every opportunity. Knock the rapidly disintegrating gloss of his image.
@ gsays
Yeah maybe you are right. Trying to drag Key into the mud never seems to work-Dirty Politics being the best example.
The people will work out he is a duplicitous liar working mostly for his 1% mates….eventually.
My only solace is that his reign will be looked back at negatively by most people, probably even his own side, in the future. He just doesn’t have the vision thing. At all.
Dam you are on to us! Just last week the Crosby Textor drones were out in force delivering instructions to thousands of BBQ’s gatherings all over NZ. Some inside info…just like on mission impossible after the instructions have been read by all it self destructs to stop any vital Intel falling into the hands of left wing spies!!
Seriously guys your comments are surely tongue in check?
Smearing and firing up the DP machine is all they have as the facts, shonky deals, corruption and chooks of their ecomonic incompetance come home to roost.
Only read part of it Sabine, but Trump dissembles like Key does when speaking unscripted. Transcripts show that there are lots of words but little of substance.
Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies
Imagine an economy without bosses. It’s not a utopian vision but a growing daily reality for many enterprises. A close analysis of the performance of worker-owned cooperative firms—companies in which workers share in management and ownership—shows that, compared to standard top-down firms, co-ops can be a viable, even superior way of doing business.
The term “co-op” evokes images of collective farming or crunchy craft breweries. But Virginie Perotin of Leeds University Business School synthesized research on “labor-managed firms” in Western Europe, the United States and Latin America, and found that, aside from the holistic social benefits of worker autonomy, giving workers a direct stake in managing production enables a business to operate more effectively. On balance, Perotin concludes, “worker cooperatives are more productive than conventional businesses, with staff working ‘better and smarter’ and production organized more efficiently.”
hi weka,
during the weekend i rewatched ‘the four horsemen of the apocalypse’ (great film).
it touched on how the workplaces (factories and other places of production) were worker owned.
seems absolutely logical.
also an article, highlighted on the standard, about a ubi run in a town in canada.
the findings included how productivity took a lift during this time.
watch the tories diss this as they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
The Kaipara District Council and the Auditor-General have agreed to settle the claim by the Council against the Auditor-General in connection with audit issues identified in the Auditor-General’s report Inquiry into the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme tabled in Parliament in December 2013.
As that Inquiry established, the Council failed to adequately perform its responsibilities to the community in connection with the wastewater scheme. The Council’s claim alleged that the Auditor-General failed to identify these failings in a timely manner and take appropriate steps to bring them to the attention of the Council. The Council alleged that some of the poor decisions made by the Council in this period could have been averted if the Auditor-General’s office had performed its responsibilities appropriately.
In the Inquiry report, the Auditor-General offered an unreserved apology to the Kaipara District community for the failings in some audit work carried out by her office. However, the Auditor-General disputed the Council’s claim for damages arising out of those failings. In particular, the Auditor-General considered that it was the Council that had the responsibility to comply with its statutory obligations, and its failure to do so is not attributable to the Auditor-General’s office.
The parties agreed to participate in a mediation of their dispute conducted by Hon Rodney Hansen QC, a retired High Court Judge. The outcome of that mediation is that the parties have agreed to settle the dispute, without any admission of liability. The sum of $5,375,000 (including GST, if any) will be paid to the Council on behalf of the Auditor-General, and the parties will bear their own costs in the litigation to date. The mediator has confirmed to the parties that, in his opinion, the settlement is a reasonable one for the parties to enter into.
Hope it works, I know people involved on both sides of this story and nobody is looking too flash. I feel sorry for ratepayers in places like Ruawai and Dargaville who will no doubt end up paying for it in the long run.
PROTEST THE PRIVATISATION OF STATE HOUSING IN TAMAKI!
Seen this?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Please join us in protest outside the Tamaki Regeneration Company offices, 244 Apirana Ave Glen Innes this Thursday the 31st March, at 3pm.
This Thursday, the 31st of March, 2,800 state homes are to be transfered to the Tāmaki Housing Association. This affects 2,800 households that will be anticipating eviction, and subsequent demolitions of state housing in Tāmaki in favour of the government’s proposed ‘urban renewal’ promise to build more homes.
Mixed tenure communities is used as a way of socially cleansing low-income communities through a process of state-led gentrification.
The government says that demolishing state houses and building a mixture of private, affordable and social housing will lead to affordable housing.
This is a con, as land values in Glen Innes have increased by more than 100% since the redevelopment. The transfer of homes is not a new idea, it is a continuation of what the privatisation and gentrification of Tāmaki since 2011.
This is a further privatisation of state assets and gentrification of lower socioeconomic areas as in Pomarie, Tauranga and Invercargill.
This is happening all over Aotearoa and is similar to Thatcher’s regime, where council estates were transferred to housing associations which led to privatisation, displacement and homelessness.
This is the first major step in the National government’s privatisation of state housing, and we need to make a stand now or we stand to lose more than just a state asset.
Come and support the Tāmaki Housing Group, and all state housing tenants that are, or soon will be, directly affected by these reforms.
We live in a low wage economy where people are already struggling to pay rent, getting rid of state housing is not a solution to the housing crisis, it only leads to increasing unaffordability.
Everybody is affected by these reforms. Let us resist the state’s neoliberal agenda on a basic human right to for families to have a home to live in.
Obviously not caring if your staff or customers died on site was a bad look.
Now, hopefully, they’ll think twice about continuing their current dispute with the union over rosters. Too much shitty publicity so close together is a bad plan for anyone wanting to keep customers.
“Auckland Council’s membership of a property developer body is “crony capitalism” of the sort pushing Americans to vote for Donald Trump.
So says veteran local politician Mike Lee, who has called for councillors to vote on Thursday to end the association with the Property Council of New Zealand.
The Property Council lobbies central and local government on behalf of property developers. It was a glaring conflict of interest that Auckland Council was also a member, Lee said.
…..”
I agree with Auckland Councillor Mike Lee.
Again – I will be pushing that Auckland Council and all CCOs which are members of the NZ Property Council cease their membership forthwith, when I address the Auckland Council Governing Body (tomorrow) Thursday 31 March 2016, at 9.30am, Auckland Town Hall, in ‘Public Forum.’
If YOU are opposed to the ‘regulator’ / ‘referee’ effectively playing on the same side of one of the ‘teams’ – then come along?
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The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
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Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
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The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
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Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Korolev, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW Sydney The United States and Russia agreed to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine at high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Ukrainian and European representatives were pointedly ...
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A closer look at some of the homegrown talent currently commanding television screens around the globe. The new season of The White Lotus hit our screens this week, and with it a familiar face in New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly. To secure a role in one of the world’s most ...
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Gilmore Girls, Schitt’s Creek, even The Vampire Diaries – they’re all set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. So what is it like to actually know your neighbours? My favourite television shows are set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. Characters attend town meetings where they debate local ...
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Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
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Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
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The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
‘The government has no plans to sell New Zealand Post despite the company continuing to struggle with fewer postal deliveries, Finance Minister Bill English says.’
Yeah, right.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/300139/struggling-nz-post-won't-be-sold-english
No, NZ post won’t be sold – the postal services are not worth anything. Kiwibank will be split and that will be sold. English could make no comment on Kiwibank being split off from NZ Post. The only reason to split would be to sell off the profitable part (Kiwibank)
Here we go ! Definitive suggestion the govt will sell Kiwibank.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?id=466&objectid=11614062dann
Business editor of the NZ Herald Liam Dann: Time to sell Kiwibank and NZ Post
4:17 PM Wednesday Mar 30, 2016
Hooton bathes in his own celebrity. Hmm let me guess who his main client is these days?
Probably deals in milk powder, swamp kauri and bottled water. Just happens to have a wife who is a power hungry Minister who is not adverse to knocking over rivals.
Little is not that much of an idiot Matthew to call you out. Tickets please…tickets please…clipping tickets for a price!
“Some of which are highly paid PR consultants I might add.”
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11613354
It is a disgrace that RNZ give this spin merchant a platform to dissemble each week.
They also give someone from the left the same opportunity. At least Mr Hooton criticisms his own side (often very vigorously). The current representative from the left seems to just be an apologist for everything Labour does.
Wonder why a pseudo-left winger like Pagani didn’t get the spot
“They also give someone from the left the same opportunity. At least Mr Hooton criticisms his own side (often very vigorously). The current representative from the left seems to just be an apologist for everything Labour does.”
Poor Gosman. He can’t tell the difference between a coherent argument that can be debated and a line of PR that is designed to manipulate the listener towards a certain bias. Or maybe he can 😉
Some would say Hooton works to keep Collins at the top of the peaking order of Natcorp. It is in her best interests to crack Key every now and then. Bennett is Key’s pet so trimming her up also serves Collins.
Clean green New Zealand.
Yeah, right.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/300174/'it's-just-destroyed-our-entire-summer‘
The big question there is: Why did the sluice gates break?
I suspect that the answer is lack of maintenance.
Same reason the Napier to Gisborne railway line has been mothballed. Lack of maintenance which caused a culvert washout during a storm.
And we’re seeing this lack of maintenance around the world. US engineers estimate that the US infrastructure needs trillions of dollars spent on it. Political response? Cut taxes on the rich and cut social spending including spending on infrastructure.
Makes me wonder just how bad NZs infrastructure is because we’ve been doing exactly the same for the last 30 years.
What’s missing?
http://www.labour.org.nz/
http://www.labour.org.nz/diary_spy_160324
Just listened to Andrew Little being interviewed on Morning Report regarding his views on politicians being attacked on social media. It was so bad I felt sorry for him. Why did he try and make a political point on this topic?
A barking dog and passing cars comes to mind.
Just read Gosman shitstirring on The Standard this morning regarding his feelings about politicians being political. It was so pathetic I felt sorry for him. Why did he try and make an astroturfing point out of this topic?
Is there a website where we can see copies of all the flags submitted for consideration? Failing that, the shortlisted flags before the “expert kiwis” rejected them. Also, we know how the politicians voted but has anyone asked the “panel” how they voted? Wonder if any of them still preferred the original.
Here are all 172 pages of submissions, the pencil & crayon drawn ones have the most charm for me. There’s a link on to the longlist of 40.
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/?sort=random
there are a few really good designs amongst them.
But frankly i hope to never ever have to see a design from that Lockwood dude. He had way to many entries. Maybe they should have just limited it to one entry per person, and we would have gotten a bit more choice.
In saying that….Hypno Flag and Laser Kiwi….t’would have been a hard choice.
All five of the Lockwood designs in the top 40 were the same thing in different colours (one of them had previously won a Devonport design a flag competition, but couldn’t say which). The peculiar thing is just how based around the fern they were, considering that he can’t draw a fern for sour apples. Sven Baker also had four different designs in the longlist, but at least they were all different (5 different kinds of repulsive). Any future flag design panel should have a one finalist per designer rule (some designers and vexillogists would help too).
Personally, I liked Frizell’s black&green Manawa design, but the black jack was good too:
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/
lets not speak about this….erosion of benefits – no not the bludger benefits like unemployment benefits or single parent benefits – they obviously need to be as low as possible to get people to ‘choose’ work instead of ‘live on the dole’, no the other good benefits like Accom Supplement ( i was told by a WINZ drone it is not a ‘benefit), Student Allowances, WFF, Legal Aid………
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/78333951/some-government-benefits-are-quietly-being-eroded-at-the-expense-of-families
“EROSION OF SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS
Student allowance is a fairness mechanism there to help the children of poorer families get a tertiary education.
Whether a student gets it or not depends on their income, and those of their parents.
The parental income levels have been frozen since April 2012, and will not be inflation-adjusted from their current levels until March 2019.
The number of people getting the allowance has fallen from nearly 70,000 in 2011 to about 54,000 in 2015.
The amount paid dropped from $78.8 million to $58.7m. A similar decline happened for student accommodation allowance.”
Raped by the state
https://youtu.be/Eaxvhq029oo?t=53s
We need an NZ version of this. Read the whole piece for best effect.
An Open Letter To All Supporters Of The TPP
http://www.opednews.com/articles/An-Open-Letter-To-All-Supp-by-Terry-Sneller-Tpp-Trans-pacific-Partnership-160328-458.html
+1 Tautoko Mangō Mata
This is a few days old now, but new to me. Even if someone has already linked to it, it does deserve viewing:
“…changes in this space”
“what space?”
“the space where the news used to be”
shit, he’s frighteningly incisive…and funny
John Gascoigne is good in the Herald today. In particular:
“New Zealanders are told they have a “rock-star economy” and are doing well. But they also experience low wages, almost 6 per cent unemployment, job insecurity, housing unaffordability, crippling student and national debt, homelessness, a metastasising underclass, grotesque inequality, desolate communities and so on. But we are doing well, apparently.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11613468
Gosh there is a lot of right wing Troll activity on the blogs at the moment as well as attacks on Little.
I think the polls might be looking shaky for the Natz.
Agreed saveNZ. I wonder if there is a strategy here directed by Joyce/Crosby Textor to drown out the debate on genuine policies. Some quiet words at BBQ’s and cocktail parties-nothing in writing of course;”keep up the trolling pressure chaps”.
IMO the only way to fight fire is with fire-attack Key at every opportunity. Knock the rapidly disintegrating gloss of his image.
or articulate an attractive alternative vision.
ubi, cleaned up waterways, a diversified economy, chase up the foreign fat cats and make them pay their fair share…
and leave the tories to their unattractive sniping.
remember when you wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty. only the pig enjoys it.
@ gsays
Yeah maybe you are right. Trying to drag Key into the mud never seems to work-Dirty Politics being the best example.
The people will work out he is a duplicitous liar working mostly for his 1% mates….eventually.
My only solace is that his reign will be looked back at negatively by most people, probably even his own side, in the future. He just doesn’t have the vision thing. At all.
Dam you are on to us! Just last week the Crosby Textor drones were out in force delivering instructions to thousands of BBQ’s gatherings all over NZ. Some inside info…just like on mission impossible after the instructions have been read by all it self destructs to stop any vital Intel falling into the hands of left wing spies!!
Seriously guys your comments are surely tongue in check?
Smearing and firing up the DP machine is all they have as the facts, shonky deals, corruption and chooks of their ecomonic incompetance come home to roost.
Interesting read on D. Trump Presnit to be and his foreign policy. Go read it, you know you want to 🙂
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/us/politics/donald-trump-transcript.html?_r=0
Only read part of it Sabine, but Trump dissembles like Key does when speaking unscripted. Transcripts show that there are lots of words but little of substance.
Worker Cooperatives Are More Productive Than Normal Companies
http://www.thenation.com/article/worker-cooperatives-are-more-productive-than-normal-companies/
hi weka,
during the weekend i rewatched ‘the four horsemen of the apocalypse’ (great film).
it touched on how the workplaces (factories and other places of production) were worker owned.
seems absolutely logical.
also an article, highlighted on the standard, about a ubi run in a town in canada.
the findings included how productivity took a lift during this time.
watch the tories diss this as they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Kaipara District Council claim settled
http://oag.govt.nz/media/2016/kaipara-settlement
Hope it works, I know people involved on both sides of this story and nobody is looking too flash. I feel sorry for ratepayers in places like Ruawai and Dargaville who will no doubt end up paying for it in the long run.
PROTEST THE PRIVATISATION OF STATE HOUSING IN TAMAKI!
Seen this?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Please join us in protest outside the Tamaki Regeneration Company offices, 244 Apirana Ave Glen Innes this Thursday the 31st March, at 3pm.
This Thursday, the 31st of March, 2,800 state homes are to be transfered to the Tāmaki Housing Association. This affects 2,800 households that will be anticipating eviction, and subsequent demolitions of state housing in Tāmaki in favour of the government’s proposed ‘urban renewal’ promise to build more homes.
Mixed tenure communities is used as a way of socially cleansing low-income communities through a process of state-led gentrification.
The government says that demolishing state houses and building a mixture of private, affordable and social housing will lead to affordable housing.
This is a con, as land values in Glen Innes have increased by more than 100% since the redevelopment. The transfer of homes is not a new idea, it is a continuation of what the privatisation and gentrification of Tāmaki since 2011.
This is a further privatisation of state assets and gentrification of lower socioeconomic areas as in Pomarie, Tauranga and Invercargill.
This is happening all over Aotearoa and is similar to Thatcher’s regime, where council estates were transferred to housing associations which led to privatisation, displacement and homelessness.
This is the first major step in the National government’s privatisation of state housing, and we need to make a stand now or we stand to lose more than just a state asset.
Come and support the Tāmaki Housing Group, and all state housing tenants that are, or soon will be, directly affected by these reforms.
We live in a low wage economy where people are already struggling to pay rent, getting rid of state housing is not a solution to the housing crisis, it only leads to increasing unaffordability.
Everybody is affected by these reforms. Let us resist the state’s neoliberal agenda on a basic human right to for families to have a home to live in.
Please join us in protest outside the Tamaki Regeneration Company offices, 244 Apirana Ave Glen Innes this Thursday the 31st March, at 3pm.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1695882720676368/
Ngā mihi,
Tāmaki Housing Group
+100 Penny
Yawn, protest over load
Crosstalk discussion /debate:
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/337391-terror-attacks-nato-ukraine/
“Why can’t Europe protect itself from terror attacks – does Brussels have misplaced priorities?
Also, Russia as universal bogeyman – when the US and the EU stare failure in the face blaming Russia is the first excuse of convenience.
And is Trump on to something – should there be a serious re-think about the necessity of NATO?
And finally Ukraine again – Crimea’s democratic return to Russia two years on….
CrossTalking with Patrick Henningsen, Dmitry Babich and Xavier Moreau.
Bunnings back down on store defibrillators.
Obviously not caring if your staff or customers died on site was a bad look.
Now, hopefully, they’ll think twice about continuing their current dispute with the union over rosters. Too much shitty publicity so close together is a bad plan for anyone wanting to keep customers.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/78339440/council-belonging-to-developer-body-is-conflict-of-interest-lee-says
“Auckland Council’s membership of a property developer body is “crony capitalism” of the sort pushing Americans to vote for Donald Trump.
So says veteran local politician Mike Lee, who has called for councillors to vote on Thursday to end the association with the Property Council of New Zealand.
The Property Council lobbies central and local government on behalf of property developers. It was a glaring conflict of interest that Auckland Council was also a member, Lee said.
…..”
I agree with Auckland Councillor Mike Lee.
Again – I will be pushing that Auckland Council and all CCOs which are members of the NZ Property Council cease their membership forthwith, when I address the Auckland Council Governing Body (tomorrow) Thursday 31 March 2016, at 9.30am, Auckland Town Hall, in ‘Public Forum.’
If YOU are opposed to the ‘regulator’ / ‘referee’ effectively playing on the same side of one of the ‘teams’ – then come along?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption Public Watchdog’
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
https://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/what-can-we-do-to-help-achieve-peace-justice-for-palestine/conference-on-palestine-poster-akl-02-ft/