There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders. Of those that have announced they are contending or have been suggesteed as possible contenders one is from Wellington, one from Waikato and the rest from Auckland.
More reason for Dunedin and the South Island to do as much as they can to speak up for themselves.
[oops sorry Lprent, did not know it was on the banned list]
[lprent: Yeah, I got sick of the boring yu r!, NoT!!!, UR!!!!! style of flamewars. I just banned all mention of owned, pwned, and any variant and put many of the standard phrases and words into auto-moderation. That is why they don’t happen here – they are immediate turn offs for everyone apart from participants. ]
and your point is what – your lack of a grasp of politics, bleeting on about wanting dunedin to be the centre of the universe…wellighton beltway and auckland urban seats are the powerhouses of labour.
Both parker and robertson have links to dunedin so that is a plus.
I’m advocating for Dunedin to get better representation, that will only happen if people in Dunedin people push for it as much as possible. Don’t you think regions should stand up for themselves?
If “wellighton beltway and auckland urban seats are the powerhouses of labour” and the regions are neglected then Labour might end up in the political shithouse. The majority of voters don’t live in Auckland and Wellington.
yes george and the people spoke for better represenation last saturday and how mnay vote did you get again ( no good on you for standing up mate) Yes as a solid hard core dunedite we need better representation and participation at the local level. Clare is on notice – sharpen up, sharpen the local party structure, organisation and activity…2014 starts today
David Clark? which one is he?
Nearly as bad as the RNZ reporter this morning insisting that Jim Anderson was the ex member for Wigram.
People who profess to be experts, ought to know the basics.
I am impressed by the way Cunliffe has gone for a ticket and team that the diversity of potential Labour voters. He is not just promoting himself, but himself as leader of a team. He has foregrounded this by fronting to the media with Nania, and standing back while she has her say.
I thought this was a smart approach and obviously well prepared.
Cunliffe is obviously one of the top contenders. I’m interested to see what sort of vision he can offer Labour and New Zealand. He’ll need to demonstrate that he can cooperate and work together within and outside the party.
LOL. I wish there was a “like” button on this blog a.k.a Facebook.
Pete is in the same party as the most unprincipled political whore and seeks to lecture the Labour Party on what they should be doing. Bizarre.
I don’t think that you can really argue that the south is unrepresented. They do have their Labour MPs after all. Not in the leadership challenge? Well, that’s up to the MPs themselves – not Labour.
The majority of voters don’t live in Auckland and Wellington.
They don’t live in Dunedin either. They live all over the place so why should one place be raised above everywhere else?
Not to mention that people move all over the place. I was that exception, a native Aucklander. But I spent 4 years studying and working in Dunedin. 3.5 in Hamilton studying. When I was running around businesses in Dunedin it was surprising how many people came from elsewhere. There were more from-heres in Hamilton.
Lyn spent even more years working and studying in Dunedin as well and she was from Invercargill.
I have family down in Dunedin who moved from the north island.
I suspect that Pete sees himself as the representative of the parochial stay at homes of Dunedin. What’s the bet that is a constituency similar in size to the one he was seeking as the kiwiblog candidate?
Updated: I missed a sentence bouncing around the bus. Added it in italics.
I’ve lived in Dunedin less than half my life, and about 2/3 my working life having worked in various places including Auckland so I don’t consider myself ‘stay at home’.
The constituency for what I’m doing here includes Clare Curran and David Clark who have both expressed willingness to participate, in fact most MPs and candidates from Dunedin have said they will be in on a stronger combined Dunedin political voice. Similar regional representative initiatives are being tried elsewhere too.
My point was that parochial politics is all well and good if you’re trying to gain a local constituency. But it is bound to fail because kiwi’s move around all of the time. They tend to laugh at that kind of stupidity.
But trying to say that people currently living in other parts of damn country don’t understand the issues of Dunedin is dumb at best. There are a hell of a lot of us who have lived, studied and/or worked there for extended periods of time as well as in other parts of the country.
The Labour party needs to look for their best candidates, and the idea that we need outsiders who don’t even contribute work to the party throwing such spurious ideas around as a geographical quota system will be treated with the contempt that you deserve…
And if Clare or David Clark were daft enough to seriously raise it, then I’d pass the same judgement on them for exactly the same reason. I’d moderate it by the fact that they actually contribute to Labour. However it would still be a dumbarse idea – something that you seem to specialize in.
Yes Pete, lets force all of the Labour MPs from the south island put their name into the hat for the leadership, regardless of whether they want it or are capable of it.
Not suggesting anything like that, I’ve said that neither of the Dunedin MPs come close to being considered.
O’Connor has been mentioned because he is seen as representing ordinary people more than the Wellington Labour gaggle, but isn’t putting himself forward.
Pathetic and Gulible Dunedin has only 100,ooo people so fact of life .
With a 132 votes you should ask Shonkey if he’ll move over and let you become leader come in on the National list.
Seriously? You link-whore an Otago Daily Tory editorial with a line and a half on each book-end?
That’s about as reliable as quoting Farrar for impartial commentary, and your quote:original work ratio isn’t worthy of a first-year.
But then, even the ODT also had to acknowledge the effects of the low turnout and shifting demographics – comments you handily overlooked in your rush to blame labour.
David Cunliffe is from Timaru and visits his mum there regularly. His late father was the well known Anglican minister there. He was branded the “Red Reverend” by the Timaru Natz, who reviled him for continually saying that Social Justice was a Christian imperative
I was at university in Dunedin with Grant (Otago University President he was) and I’m sure he went to school in Dunedin.
I also summer clerked in David Parker’s DUNEDIN law firm.
So you might want to check your facts there Pete.
So what’s your point exactly? You are a fawning fan of John Key. What kind of advocate is he for anyone but big business white guys? Yet I don’t see you ever calling him to task.
Parker was speaking the right language this morning on National Radio about the widening gap between rich and poor. That suggests to me he (and the others) are keen to advocate for ALL New Zealanders, a trait much lacking in the current bunch of clowns.
I’m not ‘a fawning fan of Key’ and have taken him to task when I see fit, especially over his intransigence on super eligibility age and making snap prouncements without considering what people may want.
Talking about the widening gap between rich and poor is not the “right language”. It’s election sloganeering.
Discussing ways of dealing with the problems of the poor, those in poverty, how to get more and better paying jobs, how to deal with benefit dependency and abuse, practical ways of dealing with tax avoidance, trying to reverse rampant consumerism, dealing with the many tentacles of violence, acohol and drug abuse, that’s the sort of language that needs airing in my opinion. The difficult questions, not simplistic slogans.
Well, quite clearly the Labour party has policies to address all of those things. As Goff outlined during the campaign if anyone in the media took their nose out of Key’s arse to listen to him. Parker was speaking for 2 minutes on Morning Report.
I don’t see anything in National policies to address any of the issues you raise. And as for United Future, still not sure what or who the hell they stand for. Except Peter Dunne himself. First class trougher.
You are a deluded fool, someone who thinks the system has a future even as the clear signs of collapses are all around them.
Presumably your current state of delusion is a consequence of ignoracne of the facts. If you are not scientifuically illiterate I suggest you stop behaving as though you are.
The facts can easily be obtained by an Internet search in the topics:
Peak Oil
Arithmetic, population and energy (Albert Bartlett).
Energy Bulletin
Nature Bats Last
Abrupt Climate Change
Of course the acqusition of knowledge is very much dependent on the desire to acquire it. My experience of political candidates is that they run from knowledge and truth as fast as possible.
If you are scientifically illiterate then it is probably too late to do anything about it.
You know Peter, perhaps some sort of South Island assembly is the way to go, you are right that the South Island needs some sort of voice, and perhaps devolving political power to North and South Island assemblies (yes, Im talking about state governments) could be a long term solution. Needs more thought though, by people who know more about this stuff than I ever will 🙂
Whilst Standardistas are scrapping over the labour leadership perjhaps we should reflect the leadership of Greece and Italy (and soon to be Spain etc)….ALL unelected technocrats in what are supposed to be democracies…banksters and banksters appointees to a man. Apparently as the austerity goes down riots are expected and the UK Foreign Offiice is planning evacuations.
We have a little bit of that going on here too, Canterbury’s resources being doled out by an appointed dictatorship displacing a democratic body. Funny, we too have a bankster for PM.
Yup and installed rapidly once the greece PM decided the people should have a say……woah there said euro bullies, can’t have that off you go and we will put our boy in.
If ever there was an example of boiling the frog this is it.
It is 1930’s Europe. The world is collapsing around us – at such a slow rate that few even recognise what is happenning. We all just blithely get up in the morning, eat our weetbix, slurp the coffee and wander off to our dailies… to be expected I suppose. My point is that people will not realise and read the details and between the lines of the news until it slaps them in the face and the patrols are in the street.
This is the inevitable outcome of Socialism, lower standard of living after artificially increasing living standards with other peoples money to remain in government. Other peoples money runs out, and the socialist mirage dissappears.
Scary as that socialism stuff sounds to you IVV, I, for one, am prepared to see it tried for the first time in NZ. Where do we sign up for it? It’s gotta be better than the crap we’ve put up with under capitalism.
Foolish vino man. It is the capitalist system which has led to this. You need to school up on the ways of the world and the ways of the bankers and money printers. It is that which has led to this and your inability to see that says more about you than anything else.
Of course it was the capitalist system and “the money men” that led to this. The capitalist system and the “money men” forced the goverments in question to borrow money to sustain an unsustainable standard of living for people that hadn’t earned the standard of living they were getting. The governments in question voted in again and again on the back of promises that they could only borrow to deliver on. Other peoples money then ran out since the Socialists reneged on paying back.
My vision is 20\20 vto, perhaps it is you who should have their eyes checked.
It sounds like you think the real problem is democracy, in vino bombast.
And the “oh, if you didn’t want the harm you shouldn’t have done it” is a rationalisation used by drug dealers across the planet – give out cheap samples to lure the unwary, mislead them as to the true contents of the product, and then keep selling to them once they’re locked in. And when they finally overdose, say that it’s their own fault and start the cycle again with some other schmuck.
“It sounds like you think the real problem is democracy”.
McFlock, quite the contrary, I have absolutely no issue with democracy, I am only pointing out that the failings of Socialism. Your use of drugs as a comparison is flawed. Drugs are, in most forms addictive and the users find extreme difficulty to withdraw from them. You then go on to blame the dealers for the users choices and stupidity.
Funnily enough, and ironically, Socialism preys on greed. “Socialism can give the poor a better standard of living” is the mantra. Except Socialists need to appeal beyond just the poor, deep into the middle class. Then it becomes greed on the part of these people. They get to vote themselves an income, and human nature being what it is, they do. The Socialist government, unable to divide wealth indefinitely, needs to pay for its largesse, ergo borrowing. And as I say, other peoples money runs out sooner or later.
Firstly, even if your perspective was accurate, the “socialist” governments were ” voted in again and again “. How is this not a fundamental problem with democracy?
Secondly, many people find extreme difficulty to withdraw from debt, just as others do from drugs. And are you genuinely saying that the dealer is not at fault if someone is “stupid” enough to start using drugs (if so, then my analogy was perfectly apt in that regard)?
And how is socialism “preying on greed” – surely it’s the users’/voters’ own “choices and stupidity” that are the problem? i.e. “democracy”? You seem to be blaming socialist politicians for the choices and stupidity of the electorate…
“people find extreme difficulty to withdraw from debt”
Debt is not a physical addiction. Moving on from the drug analogy, these people choose to incur debt to “improve” their standard of living. When it goes pear shaped, they have no one else to blame bar themselves. Ditto the Socialist government themselves. Again, I am not attacking democracy at all, if a Socialist government is voted in and Socialism fails, as it invariably will, blame does not lie outside the people and their elected government. Ergo, capitalism cannot be blamed for the failure of Socialism.
“You seem to be blaming socialist politicians for the choices and stupidity of the electorate…”
I am blaming Socialism itself (though in that breath, socialist politicians are culpable for perpetuating a political system that cannot sustain itself without lowering standards of living). People will invariably vote themselves income/benefits given the choice and when payment for this income\benefit is deferred. Is this stupidity? cleverness? greed? all of the above? If the choice is not given, there is no option but to live within one’s means.
The “addiction” of debt is when all one’s income goes to service the interest, rather than paying down the principle.
People will invariably vote themselves income/benefits given the choice and when payment for this income\benefit is deferred.
So, on the one hand “Socialism” is the problem when the electorate vote for to go into debt collectively, but “capitalism” is not the problem when individuals choose to go into dept individually, although on a population basis. And I’d suggest that the misleading politician is equivalent to the misleading sales rep.
Debt is not a physical addiction. Moving on from the drug analogy, these people choose to incur debt to “improve” their standard of living. When it goes pear shaped, they have no one else to blame bar themselves.
More BS x 10
1) Debt IS like a physical addiction. In the old days debt used to be cancelled when you died. Now the creditors have so much power they can make generation after generation suffer with the debt until it is paid off, just like a P or heroin addiction.
2) People don’t CHOOSE their debt, especially in circumstances where wages and salaries have been SUPRESSED, and they are told that they need to borrow just to keep up with the Joneses (or simply to make ends meet) by DEBT PEDDLERS.
3) Credit card companies and other creditors (including investment banks) have placed masses of traps and stings in credit contracts that no ordinary person can be responsible for understanding; further when an irresponsible loan has been made to someone which they are unlikely to ever pay back it is the CREDITOR who is at fault.
I’ll give you another clue. Insolvent criminal organisations like most major investment banks of today should not be able to make and enforce credit contracts. Debt which is illegal and created by illegal organisations cannot be collected upon.
I’m not going to argue in support of Socialism, but you should consider for a moment the role of debt in Capitalism also, given that it has been funded exclusively by debt creation for thirty years, you know, that bubble that recently burst. German savers needed lenders to foist their credit on in order to further capitalize on it, the Capitalists needed debtors, and of coarse in USA, Oz, NZ et al, our consumption and property speculation was also fueled by debt.
It’s the lenders and the borrowers who are addicted to the drug of debt….
And the laugh of coarse, that liquidity in the Anglo Saxon economies has been funded by Communist Chinese savers and Wahhabi Saudi oil barons, open the blinds IVV! The Cold War is over, both ideas failed!
The Socialist government, unable to divide wealth indefinitely, needs to pay for its largesse, ergo borrowing.
The reason why we end up borrowing is because of the existence of the rich. No other reason. Without them taking the wealth from everyone else we’d be able to afford a hell of a lot more for everybody.
Ivvy leaguer which socialists were these drunken fool the ones in NZ have cleaned up Nationals borrow and Hope policy every time and it will be the same in 2014 the asset sales won’t bring in the money our commodity driven economy won’t either slick slogans are just empty promises just like your head .Borrowing Bills English has managed less than 0.1% growth and borrowed to the hilt now he has to pay it back Austerity will lead to negative growth which Dipton will actually end up having to borrow more and not pay any thing back!
Bullshit IVV, the meme doesn’t work, German wage suppression causing trade imbalances, predatory German & French banks, tax evasion and a drop in tax take as a byproduct of a global recession caused by Crony Capitalists etc etc etc go much further to explaining it than your convenient Right Wing Meme, why is it you guys all seem so easily swayed by simple sloganeering?
Some stats on your Socialists IVV, bet all those neo-lib economies would be envious of those results, oh, no… hang on a minuite, they’re not trying to trickle down are they, they’re trying to redistribute from the 99% to the 1%…
Interesting set of graphs AAMC. How about you try this one, a speech by the Swedish Prime Minister of the time, given at the London School of Economics in 2008:
“Instead, I would argue that the explanation lies in other factors.
The vital balance between the institutions in the model disappeared and socialism swept over Swedish society.”
Rhetoric is the same as here, with one major change: “welfare dependency” in NZ is regarded as “exclusion” in Sweden, with a clear shifting of the implicit responsibility.
Although I agree that NZ should work towards achieving Sweden’s Gini coefficient and union membership rates.
In vino, there is more debt in the world than there is money to repay it. Ask yourself how that happenned and what is required to rectify the situation. It may help explain to you the insolvent ponzi scheme that is the debt-as-money system we have. This is the crux of the problem – the capitalist creation of the current money creation system. It aint nothing to do with any socialist system. A bigger picture view is needed to consider this situation than simply saying “dumb socialists shouldn’t borrow so much” (and on that note how does NZ’s recent “socialist” labour government paying down debt and the current “capitalist” national government taking on debt fit into your simplistic view on this?).
Sweden has more and steadier economic growth than our economy.
Latin Lunatic
Child poverty doesn’t exist in Sweden as well Child poverty didn’t exist in this country until Muldoons Sinking lid then Roger Dougal ass brought back 19th century Neo liberal elitism
“Murdoch had been expected to be re-elected as News Corp owns 39 percent of BSkyB, but the number of votes against him was unprecedented.”
So a minority group, but with a substantial shareholding, could have a major influence on policy. That’s how Key’s mates work. New Zealand, you were warned.
I wonder when they will go full regalia with the jack boots and everything. Makes me all warm inside watching that sort of thing knowing the youth will soon be working for $10.40 an hour.
Warned of what logie? That whatever majority required by the company’s constitution voted for him? A minority cannot vote in an officer. Should the privatised company’s constitution require >50% to appoint an officer, then the Governments proposed 51% shareholding will have the controlling say on who gets the position, though traditionally, a major shareholder will have at least a Board Member to represent their interests. Your comment is just scaremongering nonsense.
You’d obviously be upset then, if Maori bought jointly into one or more of the privatised companies and had Board representation?
I think the Labour party are mad, they should have kept Phil Goff for at least a year, forget about a leadership challenge, and concentrated on going for the National’s jugular by getting out there on the second and half second targeting that a@#$hole called Dunne, the Maori Party and Banks and the promises National has already started to break ie Forest & Bird.
If the msm do not cooperate and run another campaign of mis information like they have for the last three years bypass the a$%#@holes by posting on Facebook & Twitter and any other form of media that can bypass the msm.
By having a leadership challenge now they are playing into the hands of the msm who along with right wing commentators were telling us yesterday that Phil Goff was resigning, before it was announced by Phil Goff.
National and msm will run 2014 election the same way as this one. A beauty contest, so
therefore as Phil Goff is going to be replaced we need someone with not only the charisma, but also the necessary intellect and debating skills.
I also think Goff should have stayed for a time. But in the end he had to make the decision, and if he felt that many of his caucus colleagues did not want him to stay on that would have been that.
Strategically I think you understand the issues however and it is a mistake that Labour is losing him as leader at this juncture.
Half millionaire
Goff hasn’t got your head of steam and aggression. If you want things to happen you need to have a curmudgeon like yourself in the political seat. We need a balance – some civilised statements of policy and a large helping of let’s have some vision and get on with new, practical, worthwhile projects good for NZ growth and all citizens, and stop bugg…. around.
The tragic Gary Speed suicide, coupled with the election result, have left me pretty down in the mouth. Then I come here and all I see is bloody Pete George back to his usual self. Please Pete, could you take a break or just stop going on. It is very tedious, your constant stirring.
Amen! I hate squashing someone’s free speech but he’s like some crazy man screaming outside your house day and night. At some point he’s got to be moved on.
Once I saw that he’d be yappin’ for 3:38min I didn’t bother to proceed. Who needs that noise? I think Id go mad with frustration trying to educate people that ignoring your people isn’t a trait of leadership. Fran O’Sullivan seems to think so: “…he is prepared to take a leadership role on this score.” Once again for Fran, and for all others, corporate behaviour does not define the meaning of words. Managers are not leaders. Bullying is not team building. Repeated slogans of ignorance is not reasoning. Morality is not a product of profit.
Business people with ambition are always yapping on about wanting ‘leadership’. I think it’s probably a code word for legal moves to bring in 10% personal and company tax.
although it is not a legal petition it is a start, and hopefully will provoke those with resources to advance the urgent need for a full petition and a binding referendum
So what do J P Morgan Chase, Deutsche bank, Goldman Sachs and John Key have in common. Oh oops, a collapsing Bank of America and the collapse of the Reserve currency. So now is the time to loot the world by buying real world assets, preferably for cents on the dollar, with the afore mention soon to be dumped and worthless toiletpaper… I mean US dollar.
And aren’t they lucky John Key can help them here!
At the time Feeley was under fire from the media for sending an email to staff celebrating prosecutions against Bridgecorp and inviting them to drink a $70 bottle of champagne that had been “left behind” in Bridgecorp’s offices.
The State Services Commission called Feeley’s actions “ill-advised” but accepted he had not acted with “dishonest intent”.
The charges laid against Killeen show she is accused of supplying the National Business Review and the New Zealand Herald with another email, which appeared to also be written by Feeley.
Police allege Killeen accessed SFO computer systems and forged that email, before sending it to the media organisations.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the contents of the alleged forgery would have damaged Feeley’s reputation further, but as he denied ever writing it an investigation was begun into its origins.
Killeen was made redundant last year after restructuring at the SFO.
Did I scare everyone away from the Paradign Shift thread?
Not too much truth agian, I hope.
Regarding the failure of people to respond:
‘If you hear a fire alarm you should ignore it and carry on with whatever you are doing. Only when the paint on the door of the room you are in starts to turn black should you begin to think about your escape plan.’ That was tongue in cheek, of course. However, studies have repeatedly demonstrated the reluctance of people to respond to alarms. Upon hearing a fire alarm, rather than taking decisive action, subjects in groups tend to seek cues from others; if others ignore the alarm, they also tend to. That is particularly so if an authority figure is present and that person ignores the alarm, or even worse, tells everyone to ignore the alarm. On the other hand, if an authority figure suggests the venue be evacuated immediately, all those present usually respond quickly.
We thus begin to understand why only a tiny minority of people in western societies have responded to numerous alarms which have been sounded by aware people on a wide range of issues over many decades: authority figures have consistently ignored the alarms, so those who look to them for guidance have ignored the alarms; the corporate media have downplayed the significance of the alarms, have lampooned them, or have not reported them at all. When we add the general observations that people believe what they want to believe, and that doing nothing is normally the easiest option, we see a recipe for disaster.
Having been transported across Europe in railway wagons, most Jews arriving at camps in Poland had their possessions and clothing taken from them. Even as they stood naked in the ‘shower’ rooms, many had little idea what would happen next. Only when the gas canisters began releasing their poison did they fully comprehend the nature of their predicament.
All the evidence indicates it will be much the same for the bulk of humanity when it comes to dealing with the major issues of our times. We now face the most testing time in all of history, for which everyone who is in a position to prepare should do so. However, it seems that only when everything they think they have has been taken away from them, only when they have lost everything they think they are entitled to, will most people realise the full extent of their predicament. It seems that only when they have lost ‘everything’ will most people living in industrialised societies fully realise the extent to which they have been lied to and misled.’
And on fascism and abuse of populations::
‘In the 1940s the Germans established death camps to eliminate several million of those the Nazi leadership regarded as degenerate or not useful as slaves. After the war, many Jews who attempted to reach Palestine were held in detention camps by the British. Some freed Jews who attempted to circumvent the quota system and enter Palestine were arrested and deported back to Germany, where they were held in detention camps similar to those they had been freed from.
In Cambodia the Pol Pot regime attempted ‘the great leap backwards’ by breaking up families and forcing people onto the land. Arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, torture and murder became commonplace, with hundreds of thousands of people disappearing in the ‘Killing Fields’.
September 11, 1973. Chile. The beginning of a period during which South American nations were subjected to military rule, whereby thousands of ordinary people ‘disappeared’, sometimes after an extended period of torture, because they were socialist or because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At least five million innocent people have died as a consequence of wars initiated by the US since 1945. In recent times Americans have murdered, tortured, and abducted countless numbers of innocent people and held them for years without trial. The US has used depleted uranium and other weapons banned under international treaties in Iraq and elsewhere. The UK, Australia, Canada, NZ and numerous other ‘civilised Christian nations’ have been party to, and have supported these illegal and immoral actions.
Many people believe that a secretive group of global elites have a ‘New World Order’ plan to gain total control of the world. Under this plan, everyone would use the same currency (set up by them), eat the same food (genetically engineered by them) and be subservient to a single world government (controlled by them).
It is surely our duty, and in our own self-interest, to ensure that wherever we live, we do not end up governed by despots who control our food, our water and our liberty, and subject ordinary citizens to arbitrary arrest, torture and murder.
Most of us live just a few steps away from such tyranny.’
“This new research demonstrates how important it is to tackle tax evasion and the tax havens that help wealthy individuals and organisations escape from contributing to the services that directly benefit them – from the health and education systems that support their workforces, to the roads that ship their goods to markets, to the courts of law that enforce their contracts or to the police who protect their property.”
no doubt about it.
this election was rigged.
when the acting profession mounts a campaign against video piracy and the minister says you are getting ufb so you can nudge nudge wink wink download pirated movies then you know that something is rotten around here.
The plan was always to go like the wind as soon as the GG can annoint the coalition, prepare for urgency people and lots of already prepared stuff being slammed through.
look at the papers/TV etc it’s all about labour, a party they ignored whilst in opposition until they got a tad huffy over teacup gate and that was probably faked outrage at that. It’s more diversionary tactics.
Watch shonkey and his dealing room as this is where they will do some serious damage with his dodgy ‘mandate’…..I’m glad winnie’s around for once.
So when are we going to hear the teacup tapes and get some of those treasury papers released eh !
An excellent (and cheering) analysis of the election results from Nicky Hagar.
Well worth reading the whole thing, but I’ll leave a little teaser:
The second and related issue facing National is its terribly thin majority in Parliament, which looks set to drop to a single seat after special votes (with Peter Dune and John Banks included).
People unfamiliar with Parliament could presume that a one-seat lead is enough. But the mechanics of running a government are more complex than that. Yes, they can (probably) win crucial votes. Yet a terrible friction slows down processes and there is much more scope for mischief and disruption. This is bad news for National. The bare 50% coalition achieved on Saturday (with virtually 50% against them), even when Key was at the height of his political support, is the reason Key has been moaning about the election results in the media: blaming the electoral system when his real problem is the lack of a natural majority coalition. Governing just got much less fun. (By the way, the Maori Party is therefore in a much stronger bargaining position than it was in the last three years. Watch to see if they realise this.)
(By the way, the Maori Party is therefore in a much stronger bargaining position than it was in the last three years. Watch to see if they realise this.)
I’m pretty sure that they do.
Last time around, the NATs, Mp, UF, ACT totalled a magnificent 69 MPs at their height. 68 after they lost Harawira.
Now what might NAct pull together this time. 59 NATs (loss of 1 after specials), 3 Mp, 1 UF, 1ACT. That’s a much reduced 64 MPs, in total.
Thanks for the link. Very good article and comments.
I agree with Hagar on his analysis of National’s need to disguise much of their unpopular agenda, and the way they conduct smear campaigns through proxies. This makes it so hypocritical when National and other right wingers go on about Labour doing negative campaigning. At least Labour is more direct and doesn’t distance themselves from attacks on National/Key by franchising it out to proxies.
I remember watching Question Time frequently in the period leading up to the 2008 election campaign. It was quite obvious to me that Rodney Hide was doggedly going after Peters, leading the media on the issues, and attempting to take out Winston, and in the process smear Clark and her government.
As Hagar says, Winston was dogged by scandal for months (some deserved, some a beat up) all coming to a crescendo as voting day approached.
And, of course, Hide’s reward was Epsom. But the gratitude from National didn’t last the full term.
Furthermore, on the 2008 campaign against Peters, as Hagar says,
It would have been different if the media had been initiating the investigations themselves (and more so if all parties had received the same scrutiny), but what was going on was a dodgy collaboration between National and ACT and the media organisations, with quite a few of the attacks fed to the media directly by ACT Party leader Rodney Hide.
Peters must now be thinking, revenge is a dish best served cold.
I hope Hagar’s right that national and ey have now moved beyond the height of their popularity, and will struggle through a turbulent term with their slim parliamentary majority.
Read it just saying and what an interesting perspective from Nicky. I like to quote the ultimate Optimist who yells out to friends he spotted through an open window as he hurtles in free fall from the 10th story, “Alright so far!”
Now I think of that every time that John Key appears onscreen.
“How’s it going John?”
“Alright so far,” grins John.
The very interesting angle will be how the Maori Party, who consult with their grass-roots over the coming week, actually decide to act. Risk oblivion if they support National or risk oblivion if the don’t.
Over heard in Cambridge yesterday ,From an unknown person/
Key went abroad and made $50 million .Shearer went abroad and saved 50 million lives, Interesting ,and this over heard in Blue ,Blue, Cambridge.
I see Tory spokeman Garner is already starting his new anti Labour campaign .Last night on TV3 he was already stating that there would be a
“blood bath ” in Labour. The Labour Party needs to challenge this creep now ,tell him to get stuffed and refuse to have any dealings with him just withhold any news from the labour party until we get a fair go from this National Party Hack
A new report shows that in terms of tax evasion, NZ comes 51 on a list 145 countries:
New Zealand’s “shadow economy” is worth over $20 billion and the tax that is lost from it is equivalent to 44 per cent of the country’s health budget, a European anti-tax dodging group [the European Network on Debt and Development] says.
…
The network says the issue of tax collection is rising fast up the political and social agenda, as countries across the world make deep cuts in public spending and increase taxes in ways that hurt the poor and the middle classes the most.
“This new research demonstrates how important it is to tackle tax evasion and the tax havens that help wealthy individuals and organisations escape from contributing to the services that directly benefit them – from the health and education systems that support their workforces, to the roads that ship their goods to markets, to the courts of law that enforce their contracts or to the police who protect their property.”
Isn’t it amazing how little time the MSM give to such stupendous levels of tax evasion compared with the relatively smaller amount of beneficiary fraud.
PS: Apologies LynW, just saw you posted this already!
$7.1b in lost tax – I think that’s more than the entire Unemployment Benefit and yet the RWNJs are concerned with a few million from benefit fraud and will do nothing about this loss.
I have just seen the “candidates” for the new leader of the Labour party on Close up with Sainsbury. What the hell is the Labour party playing at? They are all bearing their souls with Cuniliff confessing to his short comings. Lovely. Labour should have told Sainbury and TV1 go and get f@#$ked, you, the country and National will find out about our new leader when we come charging out in our new tank and start breaking down the walls of Nationals very vulnerable fortress They should also tell Sainbury to do some in depth reporting on Key’s team and I suggest Jerry Brownarse Minister of Disasters would be a very good candidate to start with.
I actually enjoyed it, I knew Cunliffe would do exceptionally well, Parker would be bland, but Shearer was the wild card. Rugged good looks, heroic back story, housewives will be abandoning Key in their droves..
This is true. I had a friend visiting at the time, she is quite a “no politics” type of person, but thought David Shearer, along with his heroic back story as you put it, was, in her words, the sort of guy that could turn her onto politics.
In the short time Nick Hagar’s post has been on Pundit, it has already been read by 2,054 people. I bet some are from Key’s office. Expect an anti Hagar hate flood.
Consultation on proposed open cast coalmine was on the TV3 news suggesting that that Wilkinson waited until the first day after the election and justifying it with depends on what a major mining event is. Nothing on TV1.
. . Former Police, Corrections, and Justice Minister in the previous John Key government, Judith Collins, has been ridiculed on social media after posting a comment on Twitter that was patently untrue; . Wrong!! National did not remove Prisoners’ ability to vote. Parliament voted through a Private Member’s Bill ...
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...
Too Much Of Nothing: In many respects it is the power of a free press to keep history’s images vivid and clear that renders it so important to the life of our democracy. It was the Czech writer, Milan Kundera, who said it best: “The struggle of man against power ...
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ...
Yesterday the Greater Wellington Regional Council unanimously declared a climate emergency. They've also set themselves a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, though this only applies to their direct emissions. Still, its a good step, and as usual it invites the question: where is Parliament? When are we going ...
That's the only way to describe the government's plans for a Parliamentary Budget Office to allow opposition parties to get an independent costing of their policies. When the idea was first floated back in 2016 as an office within Treasury, I thought that wasn't independent enough and argued that it ...
Today is a Member's day, and after the third reading of Hamish Walker's KiwiSaver (Oranga Tamariki Guardians) Amendment Bill, Parliament will be continuing the committee stage of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. The bigots have put up another pile of amendments in an effort to delay or wreck ...
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...
by Philip Ferguson This weekend just past marks the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, the most famous of the great 1960s music festivals. It was held over the weekend (Friday-Monday) of August 15-18, 1969. Woodstock was a highpoint of the US ‘counter-culture’, and also the beginning of its end. When exploring the ...
It looks like the government has won over the public on its vehicle feebate scheme:A feebate scheme that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from buyers of higher-emission cars into the pockets of people buying EVs and other more fuel-efficient vehicles has been winning favour with submitters, the Government ...
When people suggest lowering the voting age, others argue that the young are too uneducated or silly to exercise the duties of citizenship. Australian John Quiggin has just blown that argument out of the water:Looking at the array of ignorant and vindictive old men attacking Greta Thunberg and other young ...
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...
Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference on August 19 that her government is likely to impose new restrictions on prisoners’ rights to send letters. She said the law could be changed in “weeks.” ...
Heart-warming images of House Speaker Trevor Mallard cradling a baby in Parliament have been welcomed around New Zealand, but the Public Service Association warns most families can only dream of such support in the workplace. ...
Applying New Zealand’s international human rights commitments, particularly those in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, can help in resolving the situation at Ihumātao, Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt says. ...
Climate campaigners impersonating bank staff have taken to the streets this week to expose ANZ Bank’s sponsorship of the fossil fuel industry. In the series of satirical actions in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland, the ‘bank staff’ promoted ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty joins the Children’s Commissioner , The Green Party , The New Zealand Drugs Foundation , Child Poverty Action Group and other organisations in the calls for an immediate end to the drug testing benefit sanctions. ...
Negotiations between Port Otago workers represented by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and management failed today and the unions have issued notice of an overtime ban from Saturday 7th September. ...
Queenstown Lakes District Council’s comments that it has applied for a consent to pollute waterways to avoid 'prosecutions by the Otago Regional Council' are unacceptable,’ Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says. ...
On March 15, the real world impact of online hate became abundantly, horrifically clear. As a shooter opened fire at two Christchurch mosques, the online image board 8chan anticipated, celebrated and amplified his killing spree. ...
Friday, 23 August: Government delegates from around the world, including New Zealand, are meeting in New York for the third of four meetings at the United Nations to agree a Global Oceans Treaty that could help to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. Greenpeace ...
The excuses about a reportedly unwanted $57,000 payrise for Dunedin City Council CEO Sue Bidrose are laughable, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has launched the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” committing to no more than 2% annual rate hikes over the next Council term, and has written to all Mayoral and Council candidates asking them to sign. The pledge will ...
This Saturday, Pakuranga Hunt Day at the Ellerslie Racecourse will see anti-horse racing protesters demonstrating at the corner of Ascot Avenue and Greenlane East. ...
Mayoral candidate John Tamihere will meet with Pacific Island leaders and community elders today at Puhunui Reserve in South Auckland to commit to a Pasefika Cultural Centre. ...
Cruel and invalid Forced Swim Tests carried out at Victoria University of Wellington, will be exposed at the University Open Day today, so prospective students can be warned about the flawed and unethical research being conducted at the institute. ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
At school camp, the children are banned from having phones, laptops, lollies, chocolate, money, cotton clothing or independent thoughts. They, are, however, allowed home baking – but it’s gotta be hearty. How hearty are you? We are packing for a school camp. If you’re thinking that the middle of winter is ...
Phil Goff’s rival has already pledged an 0800-Jacinda homeless hotline and an 18-lane harbour bridge. What’s next? The two most important people in the 2019 campaign for the Auckland mayoralty faced each other down on Wednesday night across the desk in the NZME debate: Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson. Correction: it ...
Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art is the exhibition that sparked a protest over issues of cultural appropriation and institutional representation. Theo Schoon is a divisive historical figure. But is his art any good? Martin Patrick reviews.British novelist L.P. Hartley once wrote that “the past is ...
Ahead of debuting her solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, Korean-NZ couture designer Cecilia Kang talks about growing up ‘feminine’, being influenced by the LGBTQ+ community, and why an ‘administrative error’ at Fashion Week left her so shaken up. ‘I like something big,” says Cecilia Kang, gesturing to the giant ...
The Labour Party is distancing itself from one of its members who is strongly pro-Beijing and has caused controversy in the Chinese community by standing for local office in Auckland. ...
Faced with staff shortages, equipment failures, cancer risks, and a jump in critical calls that can leave them traumatised, some firefighters are wondering if it’s time to hang up the hose. Gareth Shute reports on the dissatisfaction inside Fire and Emergency New Zealand.The state of our nation’s fire service is ...
“She comes over. You’re my mother, she says. Yes, I say. I don’t know you, she says”: a mother and child seaside story by Wellington author Jan Pryor. Photo by Peter Black. ...
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...
Analysis - The prime minister puts a stake in the ground over petrol prices, National balks at having its election promises costed and the government puts millions into helping the homeless. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...
The departure of "two Pākehā men" from the government's justice reform group will not hurt the quality of its final report, another member of the team says. ...
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...
Current leader of the National Party, Simon Bridges.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Is Simon Bridges really trying to channel Donald Trump? Or is he taking his cue from Scott Morrison? Or is he looking to emulate Boris Johnson? Whatever the inspiration, there’s been a clear change in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]Michelle Grattan talks about the sad news of the passing of former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini. They also discuss Scott Morrison’s recent announcement about joining ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...
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 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...
Honey producer Comvita has confirmed a full year net loss of $27.7m with China market access restrictions and tougher regulations locally affecting the company's sales. ...
James Elliott realises John Tamihere's uncosted bridge proposal wasn't actually a metaphor, but a fine example of 'folks is mighty generous with money what they ain’t got'. ...
A new poem by Oamaru-born poet Nick Ascroft.SupermanHalfway up the ascent zigzagging from Royal Terrace to upper Stuart Street carrying four too-heavy grocery bags I begin to understand that I will not make it. My huffing personage – from the fingers, white with the strain, to a face the colour of rhubarb – will ooze into the pavement and roll slowly ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.Sound the alarm, because it’s time for another absolute chaos pod. We’re talking haunted dolls in Waipu, we’re talking giant hands taking over Wellington, we’re talking soft serve cones dipped in powdered Milo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Press, Adjunct Professor, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania This week, the ABC revealed that the Australian Defence Force wants to roll out military technology in Antarctica. The article raises the issue of what is, or is not, ...
New Zealand teacher aides say their pay reflects an outdated idea of what they do. Elizabeth McLeod hears from four TAs, and one parent, about the classroom realities they face every dayCleaning up poo, defusing violent situations, copping physical and verbal abuse: these are the realities of a teacher aide’s ...
The lanky sidekick from Jono and Ben journeys around New Zealand trying to solve small town problems. Does he succeed?Guy Williams, hardly a shy, retiring type, has been screaming out for his own vehicle for years. A loud, lanky, fearless comic, he’s spent nearly a decade in MediaWorks purgatory, sat ...
Ballot Box.Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – The nature of New Zealand general election campaigns could be significantly changed with the proposed establishment of an “umpire” to adjudicate over political party manifesto policies. A suggestion has been put forward by the Government for the establishment of a parliamentary watchdog ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Ihumātao Delphine Herbert and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Tainui to buy Ihumātao land – sources Danielle ...
Extinction Rebellion takes a tour of downtown Wellington to point out the coal industry stalwarts and ask why they’re still there in the face of a climate emergency. “There are coal companies in Wellington??”That’s the incredulous response every single time we mention taking the public on a tour of the biggest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel A. Ankeny, Professor of History and Philosophy, and Deputy Dean Research (Faculty of Arts), University of Adelaide The South Australian government recently announced its intention to lift the long-standing statewide moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops, following a statutory six-week consultation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vicki Sentas, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Law, UNSW Being strip searched by the police can be intrusive, humiliating and harmful. Typically, strip searches involve being required to strip naked in front of police officers, who often give the direction to “squat and cough”, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Remond, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Hi, I was just wondering if something’s wrong with me because I’m never happy and never want to do anything and I’m getting really lazy and I really hate school. Thanks – Anonymous ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW It’s four years since then Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned Australia had been heading to “a Greek-style economic future”. He was referring to what he said had been happening under the previous Labor government. When Labor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samia Khatun, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London Some 1,000 kilometres inland from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains, past the trees that drink the tributaries of the Darling River, there stands a little, red mosque. It marks where the desert begins. The ...
Open mike 30/11/2011 
. . Former Police, Corrections, and Justice Minister in the previous John Key government, Judith Collins, has been ridiculed on social media after posting a comment on Twitter that was patently untrue; . Wrong!! National did not remove Prisoners’ ability to vote. Parliament voted through a Private Member’s Bill ...16 hours ago
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...1 day ago
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...1 day ago
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...1 day ago
2 days ago
Nothing from me tody - I'm off to Christchurch to pretend to be other people for a weekend. Normal bloggage should resume on Tuesday. ...2 days ago
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...2 days ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...2 days ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 2 days ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...4 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...4 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...5 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...6 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...7 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...1 week ago
1 week ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...1 week ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...1 week ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...1 week ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...1 week ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 2 weeks ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...2 weeks ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd interviews Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft and international children's rights expert Laura Lundy ...12 hours ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised to help Muslim women who are interested in politics. ...7 hours ago
At school camp, the children are banned from having phones, laptops, lollies, chocolate, money, cotton clothing or independent thoughts. They, are, however, allowed home baking – but it’s gotta be hearty. How hearty are you? We are packing for a school camp. If you’re thinking that the middle of winter is ...14 hours ago
Phil Goff’s rival has already pledged an 0800-Jacinda homeless hotline and an 18-lane harbour bridge. What’s next? The two most important people in the 2019 campaign for the Auckland mayoralty faced each other down on Wednesday night across the desk in the NZME debate: Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson. Correction: it ...15 hours ago
Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art is the exhibition that sparked a protest over issues of cultural appropriation and institutional representation. Theo Schoon is a divisive historical figure. But is his art any good? Martin Patrick reviews.British novelist L.P. Hartley once wrote that “the past is ...15 hours ago
Ahead of debuting her solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, Korean-NZ couture designer Cecilia Kang talks about growing up ‘feminine’, being influenced by the LGBTQ+ community, and why an ‘administrative error’ at Fashion Week left her so shaken up. ‘I like something big,” says Cecilia Kang, gesturing to the giant ...16 hours ago
The Labour Party is distancing itself from one of its members who is strongly pro-Beijing and has caused controversy in the Chinese community by standing for local office in Auckland. ...16 hours ago
Faced with staff shortages, equipment failures, cancer risks, and a jump in critical calls that can leave them traumatised, some firefighters are wondering if it’s time to hang up the hose. Gareth Shute reports on the dissatisfaction inside Fire and Emergency New Zealand.The state of our nation’s fire service is ...17 hours ago
“She comes over. You’re my mother, she says. Yes, I say. I don’t know you, she says”: a mother and child seaside story by Wellington author Jan Pryor. Photo by Peter Black. ...17 hours ago
On Monday the government announced its new five-year strategy to reduce the Māori prison population. Emilie Rākete looks at another ‘kaupapa Māori’ prison initiative that degrades prisoners and asks if Corrections are capable of seeing it through.On August 19th, the Department of Corrections announced Hōkai Rangi, its new strategy intended ...19 hours ago
By Michael Andrew The Indonesian media is contributing to resentment and racism toward Papuans, according to a human rights researcher and former journalist. Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch Jakarta told Pacific Media Watch many Indonesian journalists either view Papuans as enemy “separatists” or deviants and their reporting tends to convey these ...24 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danilo Ignacio de Urzedo, PhD candidate, University of Sydney Record fires are raging in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with more than 2,500 fires currently burning. They are collectively emitting huge amounts of carbon, with smoke plumes visible thousands of kilometres away. Fires in ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sean Docking, Post-doctoral researcher, La Trobe University Basketball fans around the world were recently sickened by the footage of NBA star Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon rupturing during a game. But while many think it’s only elite athletes who suffer from Achilles tendon ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Mountain, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, Victoria University The possibility of blackouts affecting half of Victoria has attracted plenty of attention to a document once read only by industry insiders and policy wonks: the Electricity Statement of Opportunities. The Statement, updated ...1 day ago
Internet freedom advocates have slammed the Government for proposing censorship of online gambling sites. ...1 day ago
George Clooney sold his tequila company for a billion dollars – but is the stuff any good? The Spinoff finds out. Imagine being so stupidly sexy you sneeze and sell a billion-dollar booze company. That’s what George Clooney did last year, flicking off the tequila business he started accidentally with an ...1 day ago
As Indonesia cracks down on protests in the disputed West Papua territory, the Government has declined to condemn the violence. ...1 day ago
Combatting internet-related harm is being stymied by inter-industry disagreement and a lack of information about the extent and nature of the problem, a new report says. ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics and host of The Airport Economist, UNSW Amid the tributes to former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer and the stories of his authenticity, courage and quirky interests – like trains and military history – what ...1 day ago
1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel Crowley, Adjunct Principal Research Fellow, James Cook University In February, about 600,000 cattle were killed by catastrophic flooding across north Queensland’s Carpentaria Gulf plains. The flood waters rose suddenly, forming a wall of water up to 70km wide. Record depths were ...1 day ago
Simon Day dined alone at Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant Hiakai, and discovered it was the perfect way to appreciate the meaning of this special food. “Would you like a few more minutes with your phone?” the waitress at Hiakai asked sympathetically as I mashed a final goodbye text to my wife ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Willamson, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Australia’s gender pay gap is diminishing, says a new report, but some contributors to it seem harder to overcome than others. For me, the finding hit close to home. The report, by KPMG for ...1 day ago
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 Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi by Toby Morris with Ross Calman, Mark Derby, and ...1 day ago
Honey producer Comvita has confirmed a full year net loss of $27.7m with China market access restrictions and tougher regulations locally affecting the company's sales. ...1 day ago
James Elliott realises John Tamihere's uncosted bridge proposal wasn't actually a metaphor, but a fine example of 'folks is mighty generous with money what they ain’t got'. ...1 day ago
Fees for company directors are not keeping pace with their rising workload, according to a new survey. ...2 days ago
New Zealand teacher aides say their pay reflects an outdated idea of what they do. Elizabeth McLeod hears from four TAs, and one parent, about the classroom realities they face every dayCleaning up poo, defusing violent situations, copping physical and verbal abuse: these are the realities of a teacher aide’s ...2 days ago
The Warehouse Group has upgraded its full year profit expectations again. ...2 days ago
New Zealand-owned Kiwibank says it is winning more customers, demonstrated by a strong increase in deposits and lending. ...2 days ago
Dairy's huge role earning export dollars for New Zealand is facing a threat some say could bring it to its knees. ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vicki Sentas, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Law, UNSW Being strip searched by the police can be intrusive, humiliating and harmful. Typically, strip searches involve being required to strip naked in front of police officers, who often give the direction to “squat and cough”, ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Remond, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Hi, I was just wondering if something’s wrong with me because I’m never happy and never want to do anything and I’m getting really lazy and I really hate school. Thanks – Anonymous ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Zaphir, Researcher for the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project; and Online Teacher at Education Queensland’s IMPACT Centre, The University of Queensland From as early as Grade 3 teachers start teaching children how to put across their own points of view. ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW It’s four years since then Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned Australia had been heading to “a Greek-style economic future”. He was referring to what he said had been happening under the previous Labor government. When Labor ...2 days ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samia Khatun, Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London Some 1,000 kilometres inland from Sydney, over the Blue Mountains, past the trees that drink the tributaries of the Darling River, there stands a little, red mosque. It marks where the desert begins. The ...2 days ago
There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders. Of those that have announced they are contending or have been suggesteed as possible contenders one is from Wellington, one from Waikato and the rest from Auckland.
More reason for Dunedin and the South Island to do as much as they can to speak up for themselves.
http://yourdunedin.org/2011/11/30/labour-leadership-and-dunedin/
george check your facts better
Robertson is an ex dunedite went to king’s high school. parker is from duendin as well.
Burn
He he Pete got [deleted].
[lprent: you know better]
[oops sorry Lprent, did not know it was on the banned list]
[lprent: Yeah, I got sick of the boring yu r!, NoT!!!, UR!!!!! style of flamewars. I just banned all mention of owned, pwned, and any variant and put many of the standard phrases and words into auto-moderation. That is why they don’t happen here – they are immediate turn offs for everyone apart from participants. ]
lol
Robertson has lived in Wellington ‘nearly 14 years’.
Parker doesn’t mention the south in his Labour bio.
Neither have stood for a Dunedin seat.
Parker won Otago in 2002, lost it in 2005, lost Waitaki in 2008 and moved to Auckland.
Pete David Cunliffe was born and bred in Timaru. You should try using those facty things in your comments.
and your point is what – your lack of a grasp of politics, bleeting on about wanting dunedin to be the centre of the universe…wellighton beltway and auckland urban seats are the powerhouses of labour.
Both parker and robertson have links to dunedin so that is a plus.
I’m advocating for Dunedin to get better representation, that will only happen if people in Dunedin people push for it as much as possible. Don’t you think regions should stand up for themselves?
If “wellighton beltway and auckland urban seats are the powerhouses of labour” and the regions are neglected then Labour might end up in the political shithouse. The majority of voters don’t live in Auckland and Wellington.
yes george and the people spoke for better represenation last saturday and how mnay vote did you get again ( no good on you for standing up mate) Yes as a solid hard core dunedite we need better representation and participation at the local level. Clare is on notice – sharpen up, sharpen the local party structure, organisation and activity…2014 starts today
Let’s see. Petey said:
There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders.
It is pointed out to him that Parker and Robertson are from Dunedin and Cunliffe from Timaru.
Petey then says
I’m advocating for Dunedin to get better representation.
Shifting the goalposts again …
Parker and Cunliffe are from Auckland, Robertson is from Wellington.
I wasn’t born in Dunedin, but that’s where I live now, that’s why I’m advocating for Dunedin.
I hope David Clark works for his electorate, even though according to you he’s ‘from Auckland’.
David Clark? which one is he?
Nearly as bad as the RNZ reporter this morning insisting that Jim Anderson was the ex member for Wigram.
People who profess to be experts, ought to know the basics.
David Clark is Labour MP for Dunedin North.
Woops my bad. My apologies – thought the thread was with the Davids in Auckland.
“The majority of voters don’t live in Auckland and Wellington.”
It’s getting close though. From Stats NZ:
Auck est. pop 1,486,000
Well Region 487,680
But, yes – the regions shouldn’t be neglected, just like all sorts of other groups shouldn’t be neglected, don’t you think?
I am impressed by the way Cunliffe has gone for a ticket and team that the diversity of potential Labour voters. He is not just promoting himself, but himself as leader of a team. He has foregrounded this by fronting to the media with Nania, and standing back while she has her say.
I thought this was a smart approach and obviously well prepared.
Cunliffe is obviously one of the top contenders. I’m interested to see what sort of vision he can offer Labour and New Zealand. He’ll need to demonstrate that he can cooperate and work together within and outside the party.
Why don’t you go save your own fraking useless one man party and leave rebuilding Labour to the Labour Party.
LOL. I wish there was a “like” button on this blog a.k.a Facebook.
Pete is in the same party as the most unprincipled political whore and seeks to lecture the Labour Party on what they should be doing. Bizarre.
I don’t think that you can really argue that the south is unrepresented. They do have their Labour MPs after all. Not in the leadership challenge? Well, that’s up to the MPs themselves – not Labour.
They don’t live in Dunedin either. They live all over the place so why should one place be raised above everywhere else?
Not to mention that people move all over the place. I was that exception, a native Aucklander. But I spent 4 years studying and working in Dunedin. 3.5 in Hamilton studying. When I was running around businesses in Dunedin it was surprising how many people came from elsewhere. There were more from-heres in Hamilton.
Lyn spent even more years working and studying in Dunedin as well and she was from Invercargill.
I have family down in Dunedin who moved from the north island.
I suspect that Pete sees himself as the representative of the parochial stay at homes of Dunedin. What’s the bet that is a constituency similar in size to the one he was seeking as the kiwiblog candidate?
Updated: I missed a sentence bouncing around the bus. Added it in italics.
I’ve lived in Dunedin less than half my life, and about 2/3 my working life having worked in various places including Auckland so I don’t consider myself ‘stay at home’.
The constituency for what I’m doing here includes Clare Curran and David Clark who have both expressed willingness to participate, in fact most MPs and candidates from Dunedin have said they will be in on a stronger combined Dunedin political voice. Similar regional representative initiatives are being tried elsewhere too.
My point was that parochial politics is all well and good if you’re trying to gain a local constituency. But it is bound to fail because kiwi’s move around all of the time. They tend to laugh at that kind of stupidity.
But trying to say that people currently living in other parts of damn country don’t understand the issues of Dunedin is dumb at best. There are a hell of a lot of us who have lived, studied and/or worked there for extended periods of time as well as in other parts of the country.
The Labour party needs to look for their best candidates, and the idea that we need outsiders who don’t even contribute work to the party throwing such spurious ideas around as a geographical quota system will be treated with the contempt that you deserve…
And if Clare or David Clark were daft enough to seriously raise it, then I’d pass the same judgement on them for exactly the same reason. I’d moderate it by the fact that they actually contribute to Labour. However it would still be a dumbarse idea – something that you seem to specialize in.
Yes Pete, lets force all of the Labour MPs from the south island put their name into the hat for the leadership, regardless of whether they want it or are capable of it.
Numpty.
Not suggesting anything like that, I’ve said that neither of the Dunedin MPs come close to being considered.
O’Connor has been mentioned because he is seen as representing ordinary people more than the Wellington Labour gaggle, but isn’t putting himself forward.
What would Dalziel’s chances be of deputy?
You weren’t just making the observation, you were making the observation as if it were a bad thing that *needs* to be changed.
Pathetic and Gulible Dunedin has only 100,ooo people so fact of life .
With a 132 votes you should ask Shonkey if he’ll move over and let you become leader come in on the National list.
And it’s not just that, Labour is getting a lot of criticism for it’s Dunedin slippage. More on worrying Dunedin South numbers.
If the response to pointing out things like this is abuse and denial the southern decline of Labour may continue to exceed the northern decline.
Seriously? You link-whore an Otago Daily Tory editorial with a line and a half on each book-end?
That’s about as reliable as quoting Farrar for impartial commentary, and your quote:original work ratio isn’t worthy of a first-year.
But then, even the ODT also had to acknowledge the effects of the low turnout and shifting demographics – comments you handily overlooked in your rush to blame labour.
Pete George doesn’t know shit before he opens his mouth. Robertson and Parker have deep Dunedin family roots.
Course, he’d know that if he was from Dunedin himself.
PG is beginning to piss me off, claiming he knows a damned thing about representing Dunedin.
David parker ran a business for many years in dunedin
David Cunliffe is from Timaru and visits his mum there regularly. His late father was the well known Anglican minister there. He was branded the “Red Reverend” by the Timaru Natz, who reviled him for continually saying that Social Justice was a Christian imperative
I was at university in Dunedin with Grant (Otago University President he was) and I’m sure he went to school in Dunedin.
I also summer clerked in David Parker’s DUNEDIN law firm.
So you might want to check your facts there Pete.
I’d be happy to see any sign that Parker is a strong advocate for Dunedin. He may have been, but over the last few years he’s been invisible here.
So what’s your point exactly? You are a fawning fan of John Key. What kind of advocate is he for anyone but big business white guys? Yet I don’t see you ever calling him to task.
Parker was speaking the right language this morning on National Radio about the widening gap between rich and poor. That suggests to me he (and the others) are keen to advocate for ALL New Zealanders, a trait much lacking in the current bunch of clowns.
I’m not ‘a fawning fan of Key’ and have taken him to task when I see fit, especially over his intransigence on super eligibility age and making snap prouncements without considering what people may want.
Talking about the widening gap between rich and poor is not the “right language”. It’s election sloganeering.
Discussing ways of dealing with the problems of the poor, those in poverty, how to get more and better paying jobs, how to deal with benefit dependency and abuse, practical ways of dealing with tax avoidance, trying to reverse rampant consumerism, dealing with the many tentacles of violence, acohol and drug abuse, that’s the sort of language that needs airing in my opinion. The difficult questions, not simplistic slogans.
Well, quite clearly the Labour party has policies to address all of those things. As Goff outlined during the campaign if anyone in the media took their nose out of Key’s arse to listen to him. Parker was speaking for 2 minutes on Morning Report.
I don’t see anything in National policies to address any of the issues you raise. And as for United Future, still not sure what or who the hell they stand for. Except Peter Dunne himself. First class trougher.
You ass, pete. You started saying “There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders.”
When demonstrated to be wrong you then shrink “South Island” down to “Dunedin”.
When still demonstrated to be wrong you question whether the leading Labour MPs with dunedin roots actively advocate for Dunedin.
Then you take the first opportunity to bail out of the topic and slide back into the party nosensicalities that substitute for policy.
Pete thinks we don’t have scroll buttons so only his most recent comment counts.
I have come to the strong opinion that pete simply loves the attention and nothing more.
Maybe we should have a DNFTT day with Petey.
PG
You are a deluded fool, someone who thinks the system has a future even as the clear signs of collapses are all around them.
Presumably your current state of delusion is a consequence of ignoracne of the facts. If you are not scientifuically illiterate I suggest you stop behaving as though you are.
The facts can easily be obtained by an Internet search in the topics:
Peak Oil
Arithmetic, population and energy (Albert Bartlett).
Energy Bulletin
Nature Bats Last
Abrupt Climate Change
Of course the acqusition of knowledge is very much dependent on the desire to acquire it. My experience of political candidates is that they run from knowledge and truth as fast as possible.
If you are scientifically illiterate then it is probably too late to do anything about it.
You know Peter, perhaps some sort of South Island assembly is the way to go, you are right that the South Island needs some sort of voice, and perhaps devolving political power to North and South Island assemblies (yes, Im talking about state governments) could be a long term solution. Needs more thought though, by people who know more about this stuff than I ever will 🙂
Whilst Standardistas are scrapping over the labour leadership perjhaps we should reflect the leadership of Greece and Italy (and soon to be Spain etc)….ALL unelected technocrats in what are supposed to be democracies…banksters and banksters appointees to a man. Apparently as the austerity goes down riots are expected and the UK Foreign Offiice is planning evacuations.
We have a little bit of that going on here too, Canterbury’s resources being doled out by an appointed dictatorship displacing a democratic body. Funny, we too have a bankster for PM.
Yup and installed rapidly once the greece PM decided the people should have a say……woah there said euro bullies, can’t have that off you go and we will put our boy in.
If ever there was an example of boiling the frog this is it.
It is 1930’s Europe. The world is collapsing around us – at such a slow rate that few even recognise what is happenning. We all just blithely get up in the morning, eat our weetbix, slurp the coffee and wander off to our dailies… to be expected I suppose. My point is that people will not realise and read the details and between the lines of the news until it slaps them in the face and the patrols are in the street.
Dictator in Italy.
Dictator in Greece.
Dictator in Canterbury.
A piece on a couple of charmers who are now in a position of real power in Greece.
http://tiny.cc/yqrwk
And there we go. Thanks Willie, confirmation of both dictatorship and 1930’s Europe.
Alive right now today.
Time to wake up folks.
Truly ugly, tears and broken heads coming. I predict he will get lynched in the best Balkan tradition a la Ceausescu.
And backing them? The likes of BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. The executive arms of the top 1% of the 1%.
This is the inevitable outcome of Socialism, lower standard of living after artificially increasing living standards with other peoples money to remain in government. Other peoples money runs out, and the socialist mirage dissappears.
Scary as that socialism stuff sounds to you IVV, I, for one, am prepared to see it tried for the first time in NZ. Where do we sign up for it? It’s gotta be better than the crap we’ve put up with under capitalism.
IVV, that article shows what happens when capitalists get their way not what happens when socialists get their way.
Crony cartel capitalism, IVV, the type you support.
Foolish vino man. It is the capitalist system which has led to this. You need to school up on the ways of the world and the ways of the bankers and money printers. It is that which has led to this and your inability to see that says more about you than anything else.
Of course it was the capitalist system and “the money men” that led to this. The capitalist system and the “money men” forced the goverments in question to borrow money to sustain an unsustainable standard of living for people that hadn’t earned the standard of living they were getting. The governments in question voted in again and again on the back of promises that they could only borrow to deliver on. Other peoples money then ran out since the Socialists reneged on paying back.
My vision is 20\20 vto, perhaps it is you who should have their eyes checked.
It sounds like you think the real problem is democracy, in vino bombast.
And the “oh, if you didn’t want the harm you shouldn’t have done it” is a rationalisation used by drug dealers across the planet – give out cheap samples to lure the unwary, mislead them as to the true contents of the product, and then keep selling to them once they’re locked in. And when they finally overdose, say that it’s their own fault and start the cycle again with some other schmuck.
“It sounds like you think the real problem is democracy”.
McFlock, quite the contrary, I have absolutely no issue with democracy, I am only pointing out that the failings of Socialism. Your use of drugs as a comparison is flawed. Drugs are, in most forms addictive and the users find extreme difficulty to withdraw from them. You then go on to blame the dealers for the users choices and stupidity.
Funnily enough, and ironically, Socialism preys on greed. “Socialism can give the poor a better standard of living” is the mantra. Except Socialists need to appeal beyond just the poor, deep into the middle class. Then it becomes greed on the part of these people. They get to vote themselves an income, and human nature being what it is, they do. The Socialist government, unable to divide wealth indefinitely, needs to pay for its largesse, ergo borrowing. And as I say, other peoples money runs out sooner or later.
Firstly, even if your perspective was accurate, the “socialist” governments were ” voted in again and again “. How is this not a fundamental problem with democracy?
Secondly, many people find extreme difficulty to withdraw from debt, just as others do from drugs. And are you genuinely saying that the dealer is not at fault if someone is “stupid” enough to start using drugs (if so, then my analogy was perfectly apt in that regard)?
And how is socialism “preying on greed” – surely it’s the users’/voters’ own “choices and stupidity” that are the problem? i.e. “democracy”? You seem to be blaming socialist politicians for the choices and stupidity of the electorate…
“people find extreme difficulty to withdraw from debt”
Debt is not a physical addiction. Moving on from the drug analogy, these people choose to incur debt to “improve” their standard of living. When it goes pear shaped, they have no one else to blame bar themselves. Ditto the Socialist government themselves. Again, I am not attacking democracy at all, if a Socialist government is voted in and Socialism fails, as it invariably will, blame does not lie outside the people and their elected government. Ergo, capitalism cannot be blamed for the failure of Socialism.
“You seem to be blaming socialist politicians for the choices and stupidity of the electorate…”
I am blaming Socialism itself (though in that breath, socialist politicians are culpable for perpetuating a political system that cannot sustain itself without lowering standards of living). People will invariably vote themselves income/benefits given the choice and when payment for this income\benefit is deferred. Is this stupidity? cleverness? greed? all of the above? If the choice is not given, there is no option but to live within one’s means.
The “addiction” of debt is when all one’s income goes to service the interest, rather than paying down the principle.
So, on the one hand “Socialism” is the problem when the electorate vote for to go into debt collectively, but “capitalism” is not the problem when individuals choose to go into dept individually, although on a population basis. And I’d suggest that the misleading politician is equivalent to the misleading sales rep.
More BS x 10
1) Debt IS like a physical addiction. In the old days debt used to be cancelled when you died. Now the creditors have so much power they can make generation after generation suffer with the debt until it is paid off, just like a P or heroin addiction.
2) People don’t CHOOSE their debt, especially in circumstances where wages and salaries have been SUPRESSED, and they are told that they need to borrow just to keep up with the Joneses (or simply to make ends meet) by DEBT PEDDLERS.
3) Credit card companies and other creditors (including investment banks) have placed masses of traps and stings in credit contracts that no ordinary person can be responsible for understanding; further when an irresponsible loan has been made to someone which they are unlikely to ever pay back it is the CREDITOR who is at fault.
I’ll give you another clue. Insolvent criminal organisations like most major investment banks of today should not be able to make and enforce credit contracts. Debt which is illegal and created by illegal organisations cannot be collected upon.
I’m not going to argue in support of Socialism, but you should consider for a moment the role of debt in Capitalism also, given that it has been funded exclusively by debt creation for thirty years, you know, that bubble that recently burst. German savers needed lenders to foist their credit on in order to further capitalize on it, the Capitalists needed debtors, and of coarse in USA, Oz, NZ et al, our consumption and property speculation was also fueled by debt.
It’s the lenders and the borrowers who are addicted to the drug of debt….
And the laugh of coarse, that liquidity in the Anglo Saxon economies has been funded by Communist Chinese savers and Wahhabi Saudi oil barons, open the blinds IVV! The Cold War is over, both ideas failed!
The reason why we end up borrowing is because of the existence of the rich. No other reason. Without them taking the wealth from everyone else we’d be able to afford a hell of a lot more for everybody.
Ivvy leaguer which socialists were these drunken fool the ones in NZ have cleaned up Nationals borrow and Hope policy every time and it will be the same in 2014 the asset sales won’t bring in the money our commodity driven economy won’t either slick slogans are just empty promises just like your head .Borrowing Bills English has managed less than 0.1% growth and borrowed to the hilt now he has to pay it back Austerity will lead to negative growth which Dipton will actually end up having to borrow more and not pay any thing back!
Bullshit IVV, the meme doesn’t work, German wage suppression causing trade imbalances, predatory German & French banks, tax evasion and a drop in tax take as a byproduct of a global recession caused by Crony Capitalists etc etc etc go much further to explaining it than your convenient Right Wing Meme, why is it you guys all seem so easily swayed by simple sloganeering?
Some stats on your Socialists IVV, bet all those neo-lib economies would be envious of those results, oh, no… hang on a minuite, they’re not trying to trickle down are they, they’re trying to redistribute from the 99% to the 1%…
http://product.datastream.com/economics/gateway.aspx?guid=b0820cdf-7e27-4a24-8615-89c21d55adf1&chartname=Sweden%20economic%20overview&groupname=Sweden&date=20111129&owner=ZRTN179&action=REFRESH
Interesting set of graphs AAMC. How about you try this one, a speech by the Swedish Prime Minister of the time, given at the London School of Economics in 2008:
“Instead, I would argue that the explanation lies in other factors.
The vital balance between the institutions in the model disappeared and socialism swept over Swedish society.”
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/10296/a/99193
Have a read, be enlightened.
Rhetoric is the same as here, with one major change: “welfare dependency” in NZ is regarded as “exclusion” in Sweden, with a clear shifting of the implicit responsibility.
Although I agree that NZ should work towards achieving Sweden’s Gini coefficient and union membership rates.
In vino, there is more debt in the world than there is money to repay it. Ask yourself how that happenned and what is required to rectify the situation. It may help explain to you the insolvent ponzi scheme that is the debt-as-money system we have. This is the crux of the problem – the capitalist creation of the current money creation system. It aint nothing to do with any socialist system. A bigger picture view is needed to consider this situation than simply saying “dumb socialists shouldn’t borrow so much” (and on that note how does NZ’s recent “socialist” labour government paying down debt and the current “capitalist” national government taking on debt fit into your simplistic view on this?).
Sweden has more and steadier economic growth than our economy.
Latin Lunatic
Child poverty doesn’t exist in Sweden as well Child poverty didn’t exist in this country until Muldoons Sinking lid then Roger Dougal ass brought back 19th century Neo liberal elitism
I’d rather be informed by current data than speeches by Prime Ministers…
Yanis Varoufakis, University of Athens, talks to Crooked Timber’s Henry Farrell.
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/39995?in=12:28&out=17:41
Here an article Naomi Klein tweeted a link to about Fascism, Austerity & Greece, haven’t had a chance to read yet but it came highly recommended.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/mark-ames-austerity-fascism-in-greece-%E2%80%93-the-real-1-doctrine.html
Mixed ownership model.
Now here is something interesting from Europe.
James Murdoch reappointed head of BSkyB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10769795
“Murdoch had been expected to be re-elected as News Corp owns 39 percent of BSkyB, but the number of votes against him was unprecedented.”
So a minority group, but with a substantial shareholding, could have a major influence on policy. That’s how Key’s mates work. New Zealand, you were warned.
I wonder when they will go full regalia with the jack boots and everything. Makes me all warm inside watching that sort of thing knowing the youth will soon be working for $10.40 an hour.
Sorry! Forgot to add
…sarcasm.
Warned of what logie? That whatever majority required by the company’s constitution voted for him? A minority cannot vote in an officer. Should the privatised company’s constitution require >50% to appoint an officer, then the Governments proposed 51% shareholding will have the controlling say on who gets the position, though traditionally, a major shareholder will have at least a Board Member to represent their interests. Your comment is just scaremongering nonsense.
You’d obviously be upset then, if Maori bought jointly into one or more of the privatised companies and had Board representation?
I think the Labour party are mad, they should have kept Phil Goff for at least a year, forget about a leadership challenge, and concentrated on going for the National’s jugular by getting out there on the second and half second targeting that a@#$hole called Dunne, the Maori Party and Banks and the promises National has already started to break ie Forest & Bird.
If the msm do not cooperate and run another campaign of mis information like they have for the last three years bypass the a$%#@holes by posting on Facebook & Twitter and any other form of media that can bypass the msm.
By having a leadership challenge now they are playing into the hands of the msm who along with right wing commentators were telling us yesterday that Phil Goff was resigning, before it was announced by Phil Goff.
National and msm will run 2014 election the same way as this one. A beauty contest, so
therefore as Phil Goff is going to be replaced we need someone with not only the charisma, but also the necessary intellect and debating skills.
I also think Goff should have stayed for a time. But in the end he had to make the decision, and if he felt that many of his caucus colleagues did not want him to stay on that would have been that.
Strategically I think you understand the issues however and it is a mistake that Labour is losing him as leader at this juncture.
+1
Half millionaire
Goff hasn’t got your head of steam and aggression. If you want things to happen you need to have a curmudgeon like yourself in the political seat. We need a balance – some civilised statements of policy and a large helping of let’s have some vision and get on with new, practical, worthwhile projects good for NZ growth and all citizens, and stop bugg…. around.
posting this again as the MSM do not seem interestd in the article’s clear message to NZ workers
(you lost, we won) and (ACC? oh that’s a goner too)
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/80-starting-out-wage-way-ck-105234
The tragic Gary Speed suicide, coupled with the election result, have left me pretty down in the mouth. Then I come here and all I see is bloody Pete George back to his usual self. Please Pete, could you take a break or just stop going on. It is very tedious, your constant stirring.
I gave up on reading most of PG’s comments long ago. He has nothing to contribute to the debates. Just a lot of irrelevant noise.
ditto
ditto
Bit like his leader. About to make the same decision myself.
Amen! I hate squashing someone’s free speech but he’s like some crazy man screaming outside your house day and night. At some point he’s got to be moved on.
Ian, well said.
Well I don’t think many of the left-wing commentators that constantly bite back or even bite first are any better.
😎
National’s demoralizing propaganda
Yesterday John Key did one of his turgid video journals in which he describes people who are opposed to asset sales as being “scared”.
Once I saw that he’d be yappin’ for 3:38min I didn’t bother to proceed. Who needs that noise? I think Id go mad with frustration trying to educate people that ignoring your people isn’t a trait of leadership. Fran O’Sullivan seems to think so: “…he is prepared to take a leadership role on this score.” Once again for Fran, and for all others, corporate behaviour does not define the meaning of words. Managers are not leaders. Bullying is not team building. Repeated slogans of ignorance is not reasoning. Morality is not a product of profit.
Business people with ambition are always yapping on about wanting ‘leadership’. I think it’s probably a code word for legal moves to bring in 10% personal and company tax.
No, it’s code for bring back dictatorship and we’ll be the dictators. Absolute rule doesn’t work without the help of the rich and powerful.
although it is not a legal petition it is a start, and hopefully will provoke those with resources to advance the urgent need for a full petition and a binding referendum
http://www.averagekiwi.com/?p=631
You can also sign the petition to save the Denniston Plateau from open cast coal mining here.
ty, and shared
So what do J P Morgan Chase, Deutsche bank, Goldman Sachs and John Key have in common. Oh oops, a collapsing Bank of America and the collapse of the Reserve currency. So now is the time to loot the world by buying real world assets, preferably for cents on the dollar, with the afore mention soon to be dumped and worthless toiletpaper… I mean US dollar.
And aren’t they lucky John Key can help them here!
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/with-bank-of-america-on-the-verge-of-breaching-5-00-my-question-of-the-day-is/
Ex SFO chief prosecutor charged
The former chief prosecutor of the Serious Fraud Office has been ordered to hand over her passport after being charged with using forged documents.
I think that the SFO should start on John Key and his bankster mates!
They’ll probably be too busy at the SFO studying their own navels. Is that a bit of fluff I see?
Heh..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6061417/SFO-worker-on-forgery-charges
At the time Feeley was under fire from the media for sending an email to staff celebrating prosecutions against Bridgecorp and inviting them to drink a $70 bottle of champagne that had been “left behind” in Bridgecorp’s offices.
The State Services Commission called Feeley’s actions “ill-advised” but accepted he had not acted with “dishonest intent”.
The charges laid against Killeen show she is accused of supplying the National Business Review and the New Zealand Herald with another email, which appeared to also be written by Feeley.
Police allege Killeen accessed SFO computer systems and forged that email, before sending it to the media organisations.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the contents of the alleged forgery would have damaged Feeley’s reputation further, but as he denied ever writing it an investigation was begun into its origins.
Killeen was made redundant last year after restructuring at the SFO.
Did I scare everyone away from the Paradign Shift thread?
Not too much truth agian, I hope.
Regarding the failure of people to respond:
‘If you hear a fire alarm you should ignore it and carry on with whatever you are doing. Only when the paint on the door of the room you are in starts to turn black should you begin to think about your escape plan.’ That was tongue in cheek, of course. However, studies have repeatedly demonstrated the reluctance of people to respond to alarms. Upon hearing a fire alarm, rather than taking decisive action, subjects in groups tend to seek cues from others; if others ignore the alarm, they also tend to. That is particularly so if an authority figure is present and that person ignores the alarm, or even worse, tells everyone to ignore the alarm. On the other hand, if an authority figure suggests the venue be evacuated immediately, all those present usually respond quickly.
We thus begin to understand why only a tiny minority of people in western societies have responded to numerous alarms which have been sounded by aware people on a wide range of issues over many decades: authority figures have consistently ignored the alarms, so those who look to them for guidance have ignored the alarms; the corporate media have downplayed the significance of the alarms, have lampooned them, or have not reported them at all. When we add the general observations that people believe what they want to believe, and that doing nothing is normally the easiest option, we see a recipe for disaster.
Having been transported across Europe in railway wagons, most Jews arriving at camps in Poland had their possessions and clothing taken from them. Even as they stood naked in the ‘shower’ rooms, many had little idea what would happen next. Only when the gas canisters began releasing their poison did they fully comprehend the nature of their predicament.
All the evidence indicates it will be much the same for the bulk of humanity when it comes to dealing with the major issues of our times. We now face the most testing time in all of history, for which everyone who is in a position to prepare should do so. However, it seems that only when everything they think they have has been taken away from them, only when they have lost everything they think they are entitled to, will most people realise the full extent of their predicament. It seems that only when they have lost ‘everything’ will most people living in industrialised societies fully realise the extent to which they have been lied to and misled.’
And on fascism and abuse of populations::
‘In the 1940s the Germans established death camps to eliminate several million of those the Nazi leadership regarded as degenerate or not useful as slaves. After the war, many Jews who attempted to reach Palestine were held in detention camps by the British. Some freed Jews who attempted to circumvent the quota system and enter Palestine were arrested and deported back to Germany, where they were held in detention camps similar to those they had been freed from.
In Cambodia the Pol Pot regime attempted ‘the great leap backwards’ by breaking up families and forcing people onto the land. Arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, torture and murder became commonplace, with hundreds of thousands of people disappearing in the ‘Killing Fields’.
September 11, 1973. Chile. The beginning of a period during which South American nations were subjected to military rule, whereby thousands of ordinary people ‘disappeared’, sometimes after an extended period of torture, because they were socialist or because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At least five million innocent people have died as a consequence of wars initiated by the US since 1945. In recent times Americans have murdered, tortured, and abducted countless numbers of innocent people and held them for years without trial. The US has used depleted uranium and other weapons banned under international treaties in Iraq and elsewhere. The UK, Australia, Canada, NZ and numerous other ‘civilised Christian nations’ have been party to, and have supported these illegal and immoral actions.
Many people believe that a secretive group of global elites have a ‘New World Order’ plan to gain total control of the world. Under this plan, everyone would use the same currency (set up by them), eat the same food (genetically engineered by them) and be subservient to a single world government (controlled by them).
It is surely our duty, and in our own self-interest, to ensure that wherever we live, we do not end up governed by despots who control our food, our water and our liberty, and subject ordinary citizens to arbitrary arrest, torture and murder.
Most of us live just a few steps away from such tyranny.’
http://www.publishme.co.nz/shop/theeasyway-p-684.html
Surprise surprise!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6061110/NZs-shadow-economy-on-global-charts
As I’ve said, we can’t afford the rich.
no doubt about it.
this election was rigged.
when the acting profession mounts a campaign against video piracy and the minister says you are getting ufb so you can nudge nudge wink wink download pirated movies then you know that something is rotten around here.
I see National are trying to get assets sold ASAP. Before public opposition has a chance to build.
How do we get a petition for a referendum against the sales going?
It will have to be non-partisan to involve the National voters who know that selling your tools, to buy a days groceries, is insane.
Especially as in a couple of years national will claim TINA to sell the remainder after their policies have ramped up our debt.
The plan was always to go like the wind as soon as the GG can annoint the coalition, prepare for urgency people and lots of already prepared stuff being slammed through.
look at the papers/TV etc it’s all about labour, a party they ignored whilst in opposition until they got a tad huffy over teacup gate and that was probably faked outrage at that. It’s more diversionary tactics.
Watch shonkey and his dealing room as this is where they will do some serious damage with his dodgy ‘mandate’…..I’m glad winnie’s around for once.
So when are we going to hear the teacup tapes and get some of those treasury papers released eh !
http://www.pundit.co.nz/
An excellent (and cheering) analysis of the election results from Nicky Hagar.
Well worth reading the whole thing, but I’ll leave a little teaser:
The second and related issue facing National is its terribly thin majority in Parliament, which looks set to drop to a single seat after special votes (with Peter Dune and John Banks included).
People unfamiliar with Parliament could presume that a one-seat lead is enough. But the mechanics of running a government are more complex than that. Yes, they can (probably) win crucial votes. Yet a terrible friction slows down processes and there is much more scope for mischief and disruption. This is bad news for National. The bare 50% coalition achieved on Saturday (with virtually 50% against them), even when Key was at the height of his political support, is the reason Key has been moaning about the election results in the media: blaming the electoral system when his real problem is the lack of a natural majority coalition. Governing just got much less fun. (By the way, the Maori Party is therefore in a much stronger bargaining position than it was in the last three years. Watch to see if they realise this.)
I’m pretty sure that they do.
Last time around, the NATs, Mp, UF, ACT totalled a magnificent 69 MPs at their height. 68 after they lost Harawira.
Now what might NAct pull together this time. 59 NATs (loss of 1 after specials), 3 Mp, 1 UF, 1ACT. That’s a much reduced 64 MPs, in total.
Less the 3 Mp votes and Key is frakked.
Actual link
Thanks for the link. Very good article and comments.
I agree with Hagar on his analysis of National’s need to disguise much of their unpopular agenda, and the way they conduct smear campaigns through proxies. This makes it so hypocritical when National and other right wingers go on about Labour doing negative campaigning. At least Labour is more direct and doesn’t distance themselves from attacks on National/Key by franchising it out to proxies.
I remember watching Question Time frequently in the period leading up to the 2008 election campaign. It was quite obvious to me that Rodney Hide was doggedly going after Peters, leading the media on the issues, and attempting to take out Winston, and in the process smear Clark and her government.
As Hagar says, Winston was dogged by scandal for months (some deserved, some a beat up) all coming to a crescendo as voting day approached.
And, of course, Hide’s reward was Epsom. But the gratitude from National didn’t last the full term.
Furthermore, on the 2008 campaign against Peters, as Hagar says,
Peters must now be thinking, revenge is a dish best served cold.
I hope Hagar’s right that national and ey have now moved beyond the height of their popularity, and will struggle through a turbulent term with their slim parliamentary majority.
Read it just saying and what an interesting perspective from Nicky. I like to quote the ultimate Optimist who yells out to friends he spotted through an open window as he hurtles in free fall from the 10th story, “Alright so far!”
Now I think of that every time that John Key appears onscreen.
“How’s it going John?”
“Alright so far,” grins John.
The very interesting angle will be how the Maori Party, who consult with their grass-roots over the coming week, actually decide to act. Risk oblivion if they support National or risk oblivion if the don’t.
Over heard in Cambridge yesterday ,From an unknown person/
Key went abroad and made $50 million .Shearer went abroad and saved 50 million lives, Interesting ,and this over heard in Blue ,Blue, Cambridge.
I see Tory spokeman Garner is already starting his new anti Labour campaign .Last night on TV3 he was already stating that there would be a
“blood bath ” in Labour. The Labour Party needs to challenge this creep now ,tell him to get stuffed and refuse to have any dealings with him just withhold any news from the labour party until we get a fair go from this National Party Hack
A new report shows that in terms of tax evasion, NZ comes 51 on a list 145 countries:
Isn’t it amazing how little time the MSM give to such stupendous levels of tax evasion compared with the relatively smaller amount of beneficiary fraud.
PS: Apologies LynW, just saw you posted this already!
$7.1b in lost tax – I think that’s more than the entire Unemployment Benefit and yet the RWNJs are concerned with a few million from benefit fraud and will do nothing about this loss.
$ 6 billion per year from losses due to child poverty
$5to6 billion lost through alcohol abuse
Misogynist a Great NZ Businessman
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10769881
I have just seen the “candidates” for the new leader of the Labour party on Close up with Sainsbury. What the hell is the Labour party playing at? They are all bearing their souls with Cuniliff confessing to his short comings. Lovely. Labour should have told Sainbury and TV1 go and get f@#$ked, you, the country and National will find out about our new leader when we come charging out in our new tank and start breaking down the walls of Nationals very vulnerable fortress They should also tell Sainbury to do some in depth reporting on Key’s team and I suggest Jerry Brownarse Minister of Disasters would be a very good candidate to start with.
I actually enjoyed it, I knew Cunliffe would do exceptionally well, Parker would be bland, but Shearer was the wild card. Rugged good looks, heroic back story, housewives will be abandoning Key in their droves..
This is true. I had a friend visiting at the time, she is quite a “no politics” type of person, but thought David Shearer, along with his heroic back story as you put it, was, in her words, the sort of guy that could turn her onto politics.
I voted not to convict dr.conrad murray in the msn poll.
In the short time Nick Hagar’s post has been on Pundit, it has already been read by 2,054 people. I bet some are from Key’s office. Expect an anti Hagar hate flood.
It was a good post.
Regardless of hateflood or not, Key got over the line just as his stock started sinking. And its still sinking.
Consultation on proposed open cast coalmine was on the TV3 news suggesting that that Wilkinson waited until the first day after the election and justifying it with depends on what a major mining event is. Nothing on TV1.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
This is a test.