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.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
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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.