Predicting election results in the future with past poll snapshots can only be indicative rather than accurate, with assumptions being in the mix plus normal margins of error and unpredictability of surprise events, but there are some useful trend charts and probability predictions for party vote.
Bugger, looked just like georges site, should keep my comments to a minimum before elevenses 😉
I hate polls, speculative naval gazing, and gambling on elections, this side show rubbish just annoy’s me. And the commentator is a past master at the side show.
My problem with it is that it becomes proscriptive and doesn’t allow for change. What Corbyn is doing couldn’t have been predicted from the polls. If we follow the projected outcome from past polling, may as well hand Peters the sceptre now.
I also believe that some people like to vote for the winning team, so when they are told that x team is winning, that’s who they will vote for.
He’s pretty much spot on with Labour and the Greens, I’d say
I’ve just been analysing Green Party poll trends over the last 4 Elections in order to forecast the party’s 2017 Election Day result, myself – and, in the process, demolish some typically dubious assertions/intellectual sleight-of-hand made by the Notorious National Party agent provocateur, enfant terrible and occasional bon vivant, David Farrar (he insisted a month or two back that the Greens were likely to receive a lower Party-Vote at the September General Election than they’re currently polling).
Currently still in draft form on my Blog – Title – ‘Dark Horse Greens ?’
I’d estimate a Green Party-Vote of 11.3 – 11.9% – not too different from Ellis (though my estimate’s probably slightly lower). Although by no means a major advance, it would represent the Green’s highest ever Party-Vote.
I can’t recall, did Labour support preferential voting in electorate seats in the recent MMP review or not?
If they didn’t, well, how sad, too bad. Duncan Webb shouldn’t feel entitled to have candidates drop out to help him.
The Greens will stand a candidate in Christchurch Central as it’s a place ripe for picking up of party votes.
Nicky Wagner will be in anyway, all it functionally means is who gets in or not further down National’s list. And if it’s Webb or a list member for Labour.
I’d much rather Greens campaign and pick up party votes.
Once again Andrew Little comes on RNZ for another grilling by Suzie Fergusson , who delights in interrupting and harassing and making Andrew sound more like old mumblefuck. It happens every time. Two questions…..
1) Why does he bother?
2) Why not speak with Guyon?
I’m sure he doesn’t get a choice who he speaks to, and RNZ shouldn’t let PMs decide.
The main problem I see with that interview is that they’re talking about different sets of figures. Labour sends out a press release, RNZ use that to do some examples and then ask Little live about them but Little hasn’t seen the calculations so can’t comment. Might have been good to sort that out by email first.
This budget reminds me of just how complicated accessing state support is. I know the WINZ side, and that’s complicated enough (accommodation supplement isn’t as straightforward as Ferguson is making out). But adding tax, WFF, etc, I think there will be plenty of people who aren’t getting those things right simply because they are so complicated.
I think the problem stems from the difficulty in presenting sums on the radio. Once you’ve heard what all the variables are you forget what the equation looks like and vice versa.
One of the examples that Fergusson uses is a family with one teen on $66,000/yr. I tried to look up what the entry threshold based on income tests and can’t find it. All I can find is a series of complicated formulas that I probably can’t be bothered sorting through. So I’m not even sure that RNZ’s basic premise is correct. Can a family on $66,000 even get AS?
AS is basically the same as someone’s weekly rent up to a cap based on area and family size. It is also abated in a similar fashion to WFF, so as income goes up, AS goes down.
Racist grave robber looks like he will be prosecuted.
Mr Hilliam admits having taken human remains from the Poutō foreshore but said they came from hāngī pits, not Māori burial grounds.
That’s caught the attention of Heritage New Zealand, which is now investigating.
Senior archaeologist Frank van der Heijgden said it was a criminal offence to damage an archeological site, and carried a potential penalty of $60,000.
Mr Hilliam said he was forced to take the remains, because no one would issue him a permit.
Indeed. Now he might come to understand what being forced to do something is and that it’s not choosing to steal human remains because someone wouldn’t give him a permit to.
Further to the above:
The above bill is in parliament, that they are rushing through to enable them to sell part of a public reserve for housing.
there were a 100+ submissions on the Bill
95%+ were against the Bill
Local National MP stands up in parliament and says he got alot of feedback and felt “on balance, there is a more pressing need to build 300 more homes for families, and especially for our kids—people who are in need of shelter, warm homes, and clean and modern facilities.” He did not mention, the area is currently waiting for 5K+ houses to be built in the area.
So meanwhile, still waiting to be heard by the whole house the Current running National MP has a public meeting on how work is being done to address window washers at intersections. It was very difficult to raise the “sell part of a public reserve for housing” issue.
Now I always support National. But if this was your electorate what would you do with your vote?
Are these just career politicians? Or do they really represent their electorate?
URGENT ‘ Open Letter’ /OIA request to Minister for Building and Contruction Nick Smith regarding the Pt England Development Enabling Bill, from Independent candidate for Tamaki – Penny Bright.
In my considered opinion, the Local Government and Environment Committee, and the House, have effectively been misled.
In my considered opinion, MPs and the public have been misled, by the effective ‘smoke and mirrors’ exercise that has been carried out, by using similar sounding names for different legal entities regarding the so-called ‘Tamaki Regeneration’, which is actually GENTRIFICATION, and effectively a State-sponsored land grab of public property for private property development.
The ‘Tamaki Redevelopment Company’ (presumably referring to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd), actually owns NO houses, and has NO tenants.
2,800 Housing NZ properties were supposed to be transferred to Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd on 31 March 2016.
You, Minister Nick Smith, have been one of two Crown shareholding Ministers in both the Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd, and Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, so, in my opinion, must have been well aware of what exactly was going on.
On your watch, the Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd, (59% Crown and 41% Auckland
Council) which was supposed to have 2,800 Housing NZ properties in Tamaki transferred on
31 March 2016, actually did not end up owning ONE former Tamaki State house.
2,704 former Housing NZ properties were transferred to Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, which is 100% Crown.
TĀMAKI REGENERATION LIMITED (5840214) Registered
To maintain this company log on here
Last updated on 31 Mar 2017
Company SummaryAddressesDirectors (8)Shareholdings (3)Documents (42)PPSR Search
Total Number of Shares:1631161318 Extensive Shareholding:No
Shareholders in Allocation:
Allocation 1:815580609 shares (50.00%)
Minister For FINANCE
Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, 6160 , New Zealand
Allocation 2:815580609 shares (50.00%)
Minister For BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, 6160 , New Zealand
Allocation 3:100 shares (0.00%)
TĀMAKI REDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED
244 Apirana Avenue, Glen Innes, Auckland, 1072 , New Zealand
_________________________________________________
Please be advised that I have spent approximately two weeks, unpaid, voluntary work,(from Saturday 15 April 2017 to Sunday 29 April 2017), with the assistance of others, who helped by driving me around all 119 streets in the list of 2,704 former Housing NZ properties now owned by Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, which was provided to me by the General Manager of Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, Mr Neil Porteous.
(As the provided list was neither (street) alphabetical, nor street numbers chronological, it took me some hours to manually reconfigure this Tamaki Regeneration Ltd of 2,704 former Housing NZ properties, in order to make it both coherent and ‘logical’ to follow).
Having retyped this Tamaki Regeneration Ltd list of 2,704 former Housing NZ properties, with the assistance of other community volunteers, who helped by driving street to street, the addresses of ALL 2,704 former Housing NZ properties were checked, in order to establish the following information:
1) Did the former Housing NZ property (house) appear to be occupied?
2) Did the former Housing NZ property (house) appear to be empty / unoccupied?
3) Was the former Housing NZ property now a ‘bare section’, because the former Housing NZ house had been removed?
4) Was the former Housing NZ property now being developed, if so, who was the developer?
Having carried out the above-mentioned ‘due diligence’ – the following information was discovered:
BARE SECTIONS IN THE TAMAKI REGENERATION LIST AS AT 29 APRIL 2017:
MINISTER OF BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, NICK SMITH, PLEASE PROVIDE THE INFORMATION WHICH EXPLAINS THE FOLLOWING:
1) Why are you seeking to turn more public land (one quarter of the Pt England Reserve) into private property development, when ‘on your watch’ as the Minister of Building and Construction, 76 former Housing NZ properties in Tamaki have had (State) houses removed and are now empty, bare sections, and there appear to be also 70 empty former State houses?
2) Why has the Local Government and Select Committee been given, in my considered opinion, such inaccuate advice?
“While not specified in the bill, we were advised that the housing development would be used to rehouse some tenants of the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company whose housing is due for redevelopment, and to provide much-needed additional housing in Auckland.”
3) Please confirm that you have read my following OIA request to the CEO of Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, John Holyoake, and that the Pt England Development Enabling Bill will NOT proceed until the requested information has been fully provided.
(Please be advised that today, 30 May 2017, I received written confirmation that this OIA request has been received and is being processed.)
There’s this amazing thing you can do on the Otago Peninsula, which is go to this specific spot at dusk, and wait for the little Blue Penguins to come in after fishing for the day.
You can barely see then in the grainy light surfing the waves. But if you sit perfectly still, there’s dozens and dozens of them march right close past you as they head to their nests for the evening.
I’d recommend it to everyone as a dose of sheer magic.
It is magic. I’ve seen the little blues swimming in the Otago Harbour too.
Lots of our bird species are heading for extinction and that’s before we take into account climate change 🙁 NZ has the potential to be good at conservation, but we have to make a priority.
That “specific spot” (if I’m guessing correctly) now costs about $40 to get to after a certain time of the day. Used to be free access.
But having witnessed some truly atrocious behaviour around wildlife, I’d be quite happy if not another visitor or tourist came by this way.
Those that have their fingers delving deep into the wallets of tourists off the back of wildlife “safari” shit would probably disagree mind. Though I’d be quite happy for most of them to fuck off too 😉
It’s too big a tourist destination now not to be number-controlled and priced.
The DoC and tour staff were good and clear about enforcing absolute silence and no phone or camera flashes, lest the penguins decide to go and nest elsewhere.
Nice interview with play write and actor Wallace Shawn, (Prince’s Bride) quite interesting to hear him describe his waking up to his white privilege. Might be a bit much for some white folks, you have been warned.
It will be interesting to see how the MSM portray it.
Labour of course did the same by moving talented, younger candidates up the list and some current MPS accordingly dropped. The MSM and a tiny bunch of bitter, twisted formers members (eg. Phil Quin) tried to stir up a hornets nest on the basis there would be ructions inside the Party. It never happened.
TVNZ’s Corin Dann called it a slick performance by the Greens. But he’s only playing the good cop bad cop, I doubt he would relay three positive stories on the left in a row. The status quo has to be protected after all.
There are distinct differences between the MO of Corin Dann and Paddy Gower. One plays it safe and under-estimates everything, the other goes for the jugular and over-estimates everything. The outcome however is the same. Neither gets it right and neither gets it completely wrong. That makes both of them useless as a political sound-board.
Glad to see Golriz Ghahraman go up, and there’s a few other wiggles around in position that seem decent.
Really disappointing to see Hayley Holt and Chloe Swarbrick up so high, they’re really just on there because of name recognition. Swarbrick is at least organised and will work hard, but on what policy position?
It must be galling for a ‘noted activist and expert on climate change’, and an experienced environmental lawyer to be bumped down into a position that’s a massive long shot to get into parliament in order to get a sports TV show presenter a better position.
The study followed workers for 10 years, and redundancy has a big impact on future earnings as people earn substantially less on average (25%) than in their previous jobs, and have 10% higher unemployment rate than the average. This is particularly an issue for older staff than under 30s.
bwaghorn
This came on Radionz today bwaghorn. It gave me some hope for the small farmer and young ones. I haven’t listened to it yet but just the headline was good. I think he had some ideas of his own about how to go about it too. So a thinker.
New Zealand dairy trainee of the year, 24 year old Clay Paton is a young man with a plan, hoping to own a farm, or a large scale sharemilking position by the time he’s 35.
Don’t know JC, I have been trying to do things near grass roots in the town though, and find a lack of spirit to do, change anything in a practical way.. In that spirit, I found his spirit very uplifting, though know not where it will lead. Some people doing – thinking, something, like here for instance, and the young fellow wanting the family farm to continue, gives me encouragement to keep trying.
England, and the Tories who own it, is continuing to demonstrate its parochialism and incompetence of its leadership.
Mays bluster and flag waving is hiding a horrific chasm of ineptitude.
“Protecting the EU single market and institutions was “the only way to build a sound new relationship, if we build something ambiguous then we will have a disaster … you want to take back control, we also want to keep control.”
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
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 announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 Orderimage, ...
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; ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Hopefully the Labour Party is learning a lot from the integrity and honesty of Jeremy Corbyn’s campaigning.
Here’s just a sample……
Hopefully the Labour Party is learning a lot from the policies of the UK Labour Party.
100+ Labour policies for a fairer Britain
https://stuartsorensen.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/img_20170517_143520.png
An interesting polls stats based post: New Zealand general election forecasts
Predicting election results in the future with past poll snapshots can only be indicative rather than accurate, with assumptions being in the mix plus normal margins of error and unpredictability of surprise events, but there are some useful trend charts and probability predictions for party vote.
So this is a link to your own page there peter – how about you be honest about that to start with, I could add more, but lets leave it at that.
The site belongs to Peter Ellis. I agree: let’s leave it at that 🙂
Bugger, looked just like georges site, should keep my comments to a minimum before elevenses 😉
I hate polls, speculative naval gazing, and gambling on elections, this side show rubbish just annoy’s me. And the commentator is a past master at the side show.
My problem with it is that it becomes proscriptive and doesn’t allow for change. What Corbyn is doing couldn’t have been predicted from the polls. If we follow the projected outcome from past polling, may as well hand Peters the sceptre now.
I also believe that some people like to vote for the winning team, so when they are told that x team is winning, that’s who they will vote for.
It’s that constant grind to limit debate, and have us all look in one direction.
I have nothing to do with that website apart from having an interest in what has been posted there.
He’s pretty much spot on with Labour and the Greens, I’d say
I’ve just been analysing Green Party poll trends over the last 4 Elections in order to forecast the party’s 2017 Election Day result, myself – and, in the process, demolish some typically dubious assertions/intellectual sleight-of-hand made by the Notorious National Party agent provocateur, enfant terrible and occasional bon vivant, David Farrar (he insisted a month or two back that the Greens were likely to receive a lower Party-Vote at the September General Election than they’re currently polling).
Currently still in draft form on my Blog – Title – ‘Dark Horse Greens ?’
I’d estimate a Green Party-Vote of 11.3 – 11.9% – not too different from Ellis (though my estimate’s probably slightly lower). Although by no means a major advance, it would represent the Green’s highest ever Party-Vote.
A NZF/Labour Coalition is the most likely outcome, evidently NZF polling quite well and always does better on Election Day ?
Do the Greens need to get out of the way?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/93094495/labours-duncan-webb-laments-green-candidacy-in-christchurch-central
Pushing the “Blue-green” thing, ain’t they! Is Maggie Barry a Blue-green? Is Nick Smith?
Webb believes a vote for the Green candidate will essentially be a vote for Nicky Wagner. Vote Green get blue – blue-green.
“Webb believes a vote for the Green candidate will essentially be a vote for Nicky Wagner. Vote Green get blue
blue-green.”fify
I can’t recall, did Labour support preferential voting in electorate seats in the recent MMP review or not?
If they didn’t, well, how sad, too bad. Duncan Webb shouldn’t feel entitled to have candidates drop out to help him.
The Greens will stand a candidate in Christchurch Central as it’s a place ripe for picking up of party votes.
And if Nicky Wagner wins as a result of that it will be too bad for both (Greens, Labour) of them.
Nicky Wagner will be in anyway, all it functionally means is who gets in or not further down National’s list. And if it’s Webb or a list member for Labour.
I’d much rather Greens campaign and pick up party votes.
Once again Andrew Little comes on RNZ for another grilling by Suzie Fergusson , who delights in interrupting and harassing and making Andrew sound more like old mumblefuck. It happens every time. Two questions…..
1) Why does he bother?
2) Why not speak with Guyon?
Do you mean the “Labour say budget’s ‘teenagers tax’ to hurt NZ families” interview?
Just listened to it and I didn’t get that impression. It seemed pretty fair.
Little Shearwater?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/birds-on-morning-report/audio/20146255/little-shearwater
I’m sure he doesn’t get a choice who he speaks to, and RNZ shouldn’t let PMs decide.
The main problem I see with that interview is that they’re talking about different sets of figures. Labour sends out a press release, RNZ use that to do some examples and then ask Little live about them but Little hasn’t seen the calculations so can’t comment. Might have been good to sort that out by email first.
This budget reminds me of just how complicated accessing state support is. I know the WINZ side, and that’s complicated enough (accommodation supplement isn’t as straightforward as Ferguson is making out). But adding tax, WFF, etc, I think there will be plenty of people who aren’t getting those things right simply because they are so complicated.
I think the problem stems from the difficulty in presenting sums on the radio. Once you’ve heard what all the variables are you forget what the equation looks like and vice versa.
One of the examples that Fergusson uses is a family with one teen on $66,000/yr. I tried to look up what the entry threshold based on income tests and can’t find it. All I can find is a series of complicated formulas that I probably can’t be bothered sorting through. So I’m not even sure that RNZ’s basic premise is correct. Can a family on $66,000 even get AS?
Yes they can, depending on area.
AS is basically the same as someone’s weekly rent up to a cap based on area and family size. It is also abated in a similar fashion to WFF, so as income goes up, AS goes down.
Racist grave robber looks like he will be prosecuted.
Mr Hilliam admits having taken human remains from the Poutō foreshore but said they came from hāngī pits, not Māori burial grounds.
That’s caught the attention of Heritage New Zealand, which is now investigating.
Senior archaeologist Frank van der Heijgden said it was a criminal offence to damage an archeological site, and carried a potential penalty of $60,000.
Mr Hilliam said he was forced to take the remains, because no one would issue him a permit.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/331890/man-out-to-prove-maori-not-original-settlers-under-investigation
Yay!
Indeed. Now he might come to understand what being forced to do something is and that it’s not choosing to steal human remains because someone wouldn’t give him a permit to.
This is the same guy who thinks that literally every civilisation going back to the ancient Phonecians came to New Zealand.
And credits John Key, ex-Minister of Tourism, with that.
The type of crime that needs the book thrown at the perpetrator.
I agree. The problem is anything and everything will be used by the conspiracy twerps to reinforce their jaundiced view. Same as it ever was.
That’s similar to what all muggers say to the police..
Read this Point England Development Enabling Bill.pdf
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Point%20England%20Development%20Enabling%20Bill.pdf
or as a more appropriate name
(PUT THE NAME OF YOUR LOCAL PARK HERE..) … ………..Development Enabling Bill.
Or the “Developers Wet Dream Bill”
And the greens are ABSTAINING because it conflicts with their treaty values.
But they do not see the big picture. This is precedent setting.
No RMA Act,No Council Restrictions&No Public Notification!
[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.]
Further to the above:
The above bill is in parliament, that they are rushing through to enable them to sell part of a public reserve for housing.
there were a 100+ submissions on the Bill
95%+ were against the Bill
Local National MP stands up in parliament and says he got alot of feedback and felt “on balance, there is a more pressing need to build 300 more homes for families, and especially for our kids—people who are in need of shelter, warm homes, and clean and modern facilities.” He did not mention, the area is currently waiting for 5K+ houses to be built in the area.
So meanwhile, still waiting to be heard by the whole house the Current running National MP has a public meeting on how work is being done to address window washers at intersections. It was very difficult to raise the “sell part of a public reserve for housing” issue.
Now I always support National. But if this was your electorate what would you do with your vote?
Are these just career politicians? Or do they really represent their electorate?
How much of the public reserve will be left as open space, heman ?
13 out of the 45 hectares will be gone.
does that sound like there will be enough left after the fact?
You might think there is enough left? Maybe so but then look at current concept plans, but not sure if there is room for change on this.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Point%20England%20Concept%20Images.pdf
and that may make you think differently.
For me I don’t think it will be a reserve when it is finished, not to mention a whole host of other reasons…
Some images in this article: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/05/28/30765/no-easy-answer-in-pt-england-land-tussle
30 May 2017
URGENT ‘ Open Letter’ /OIA request to Minister for Building and Contruction Nick Smith regarding the Pt England Development Enabling Bill, from Independent candidate for Tamaki – Penny Bright.
Dear Minister,
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/SCR_73903/c3f32f149102b12d9579ec4928427a625f457c5a
” Point England Development Enabling Bill 223—1
[deleted]
________________________
In my considered opinion, the Local Government and Environment Committee, and the House, have effectively been misled.
In my considered opinion, MPs and the public have been misled, by the effective ‘smoke and mirrors’ exercise that has been carried out, by using similar sounding names for different legal entities regarding the so-called ‘Tamaki Regeneration’, which is actually GENTRIFICATION, and effectively a State-sponsored land grab of public property for private property development.
The ‘Tamaki Redevelopment Company’ (presumably referring to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd), actually owns NO houses, and has NO tenants.
2,800 Housing NZ properties were supposed to be transferred to Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd on 31 March 2016.
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/51DBSCH_SCR68578_1/244291aaab825db7d3685cce7e3ccd49a2a7589e
“2014/15 ANNUAL REVIEW OF TĀMAKI REDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED 2
[deleted]
___________________________________________________
You, Minister Nick Smith, have been one of two Crown shareholding Ministers in both the Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd, and Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, so, in my opinion, must have been well aware of what exactly was going on.
https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/3937662/shareholdings
TĀMAKI REDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED (3937662) Registered
[deleted]
__________________________________________________
On your watch, the Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd, (59% Crown and 41% Auckland
Council) which was supposed to have 2,800 Housing NZ properties in Tamaki transferred on
31 March 2016, actually did not end up owning ONE former Tamaki State house.
2,704 former Housing NZ properties were transferred to Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, which is 100% Crown.
https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/5840214/shareholdings?backurl=%2Fcompanies%2Fapp%2Fui%2Fpages%2Fcompanies%2Fsearch%3Fmode%3Dstandard%26type%3Dentities%26q%3DTamaki%2520Regeneration%2520Ltd
TĀMAKI REGENERATION LIMITED (5840214) Registered
To maintain this company log on here
Last updated on 31 Mar 2017
Company SummaryAddressesDirectors (8)Shareholdings (3)Documents (42)PPSR Search
Total Number of Shares:1631161318 Extensive Shareholding:No
Shareholders in Allocation:
Allocation 1:815580609 shares (50.00%)
Minister For FINANCE
Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, 6160 , New Zealand
Allocation 2:815580609 shares (50.00%)
Minister For BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
Executive Wing, Parliament Buildings, Wellington, 6160 , New Zealand
Allocation 3:100 shares (0.00%)
TĀMAKI REDEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED
244 Apirana Avenue, Glen Innes, Auckland, 1072 , New Zealand
_________________________________________________
Please be advised that I have spent approximately two weeks, unpaid, voluntary work,(from Saturday 15 April 2017 to Sunday 29 April 2017), with the assistance of others, who helped by driving me around all 119 streets in the list of 2,704 former Housing NZ properties now owned by Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, which was provided to me by the General Manager of Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, Mr Neil Porteous.
(As the provided list was neither (street) alphabetical, nor street numbers chronological, it took me some hours to manually reconfigure this Tamaki Regeneration Ltd of 2,704 former Housing NZ properties, in order to make it both coherent and ‘logical’ to follow).
Having retyped this Tamaki Regeneration Ltd list of 2,704 former Housing NZ properties, with the assistance of other community volunteers, who helped by driving street to street, the addresses of ALL 2,704 former Housing NZ properties were checked, in order to establish the following information:
1) Did the former Housing NZ property (house) appear to be occupied?
2) Did the former Housing NZ property (house) appear to be empty / unoccupied?
3) Was the former Housing NZ property now a ‘bare section’, because the former Housing NZ house had been removed?
4) Was the former Housing NZ property now being developed, if so, who was the developer?
Having carried out the above-mentioned ‘due diligence’ – the following information was discovered:
BARE SECTIONS IN THE TAMAKI REGENERATION LIST AS AT 29 APRIL 2017:
[deleted]
___________________________________________________
MINISTER OF BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION, NICK SMITH, PLEASE PROVIDE THE INFORMATION WHICH EXPLAINS THE FOLLOWING:
1) Why are you seeking to turn more public land (one quarter of the Pt England Reserve) into private property development, when ‘on your watch’ as the Minister of Building and Construction, 76 former Housing NZ properties in Tamaki have had (State) houses removed and are now empty, bare sections, and there appear to be also 70 empty former State houses?
2) Why has the Local Government and Select Committee been given, in my considered opinion, such inaccuate advice?
“While not specified in the bill, we were advised that the housing development would be used to rehouse some tenants of the Tāmaki Redevelopment Company whose housing is due for redevelopment, and to provide much-needed additional housing in Auckland.”
3) Please confirm that you have read my following OIA request to the CEO of Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, John Holyoake, and that the Pt England Development Enabling Bill will NOT proceed until the requested information has been fully provided.
(Please be advised that today, 30 May 2017, I received written confirmation that this OIA request has been received and is being processed.)
…………
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Tamaki electorate.
(Exposing the Tamaki GENTRIFICATION $CAM).
[very long pieces of cut and pasted text deleted. Do your own editing next time Penny – weka]
Our Yellow Eyed Penguins to be extinct inside 40 years.
Reported internationally here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-zealand-yellow-eyed-penguin-extinct_us_591e9a4ee4b094cdba52e689?ej&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
There’s this amazing thing you can do on the Otago Peninsula, which is go to this specific spot at dusk, and wait for the little Blue Penguins to come in after fishing for the day.
You can barely see then in the grainy light surfing the waves. But if you sit perfectly still, there’s dozens and dozens of them march right close past you as they head to their nests for the evening.
I’d recommend it to everyone as a dose of sheer magic.
It is magic. I’ve seen the little blues swimming in the Otago Harbour too.
Lots of our bird species are heading for extinction and that’s before we take into account climate change 🙁 NZ has the potential to be good at conservation, but we have to make a priority.
That “specific spot” (if I’m guessing correctly) now costs about $40 to get to after a certain time of the day. Used to be free access.
But having witnessed some truly atrocious behaviour around wildlife, I’d be quite happy if not another visitor or tourist came by this way.
Those that have their fingers delving deep into the wallets of tourists off the back of wildlife “safari” shit would probably disagree mind. Though I’d be quite happy for most of them to fuck off too 😉
It’s too big a tourist destination now not to be number-controlled and priced.
The DoC and tour staff were good and clear about enforcing absolute silence and no phone or camera flashes, lest the penguins decide to go and nest elsewhere.
We were lucky to be there.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/93095967/sea-lions-put-snag-in-aquaculture-plans
Nice interview with play write and actor Wallace Shawn, (Prince’s Bride) quite interesting to hear him describe his waking up to his white privilege. Might be a bit much for some white folks, you have been warned.
The Green Party finalise their party list. Looks like some shrewd moves to put the high profile candidates further up.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/331902/young-women-candidates-move-up-green-party-list
It will be interesting to see how the MSM portray it.
Labour of course did the same by moving talented, younger candidates up the list and some current MPS accordingly dropped. The MSM and a tiny bunch of bitter, twisted formers members (eg. Phil Quin) tried to stir up a hornets nest on the basis there would be ructions inside the Party. It never happened.
TVNZ’s Corin Dann called it a slick performance by the Greens. But he’s only playing the good cop bad cop, I doubt he would relay three positive stories on the left in a row. The status quo has to be protected after all.
There are distinct differences between the MO of Corin Dann and Paddy Gower. One plays it safe and under-estimates everything, the other goes for the jugular and over-estimates everything. The outcome however is the same. Neither gets it right and neither gets it completely wrong. That makes both of them useless as a political sound-board.
Both are puppets of the establishment.
Switch off the corporate media.
Glad to see Golriz Ghahraman go up, and there’s a few other wiggles around in position that seem decent.
Really disappointing to see Hayley Holt and Chloe Swarbrick up so high, they’re really just on there because of name recognition. Swarbrick is at least organised and will work hard, but on what policy position?
It must be galling for a ‘noted activist and expert on climate change’, and an experienced environmental lawyer to be bumped down into a position that’s a massive long shot to get into parliament in order to get a sports TV show presenter a better position.
So our minister of health thinks it’s fine for fast food to advertise to kids through sport because “a lot of sport in New Zealand right down to the community level wouldn’t take place without that sponsorship.”
That’s what they said about tobacco sponsorship, and guess what? We still have sport.
This government doesn’t care about our health.
It cares about its corporate backers.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/93091405/workers-who-lose-their-jobs-are-disadvantaged-for-years
The study followed workers for 10 years, and redundancy has a big impact on future earnings as people earn substantially less on average (25%) than in their previous jobs, and have 10% higher unemployment rate than the average. This is particularly an issue for older staff than under 30s.
bwaghorn
This came on Radionz today bwaghorn. It gave me some hope for the small farmer and young ones. I haven’t listened to it yet but just the headline was good. I think he had some ideas of his own about how to go about it too. So a thinker.
farming
11:25 am today
Young man with a plan, farm ownership by 35
From Nine To Noon, 11:25 am today
Listen duration 17′ :35″
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201845664/young-man-with-a-plan-farm-ownership-by-35
New Zealand dairy trainee of the year, 24 year old Clay Paton is a young man with a plan, hoping to own a farm, or a large scale sharemilking position by the time he’s 35.
Hasn’t the Cow already bolted… despite the sincerity…
Don’t know JC, I have been trying to do things near grass roots in the town though, and find a lack of spirit to do, change anything in a practical way.. In that spirit, I found his spirit very uplifting, though know not where it will lead. Some people doing – thinking, something, like here for instance, and the young fellow wanting the family farm to continue, gives me encouragement to keep trying.
England, and the Tories who own it, is continuing to demonstrate its parochialism and incompetence of its leadership.
Mays bluster and flag waving is hiding a horrific chasm of ineptitude.
“Protecting the EU single market and institutions was “the only way to build a sound new relationship, if we build something ambiguous then we will have a disaster … you want to take back control, we also want to keep control.”
A good one from The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/30/painstaking-detail-brexit-process-revealed-eu-documents