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.
I've got one source saying more Labour MPs than expected are mulling whether to vote for the deal - including names who were not on the letter to Juncker and Tusk— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) 17 October 2019 I've compiled a list of possible reasons why Labour ...
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...
On Monday, the Hit and Run inquiry heard from NZDF's former director of special operations, who claimed that the defence Minister knew everything about the Operation Burnham raid. Today, the inquiry heard from that (former) Minister - and it turns out that he didn't know nearly as much as NZDF ...
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
The faces said it all. The smiles of the European leaders crowded round Boris after the Brexit deal was struck. The deal his opponents – no, pretty much everyone – said was impossible.So what’s in it? The detail is still opaque, but subject to gremlins in the fine print, ...
Iran attracts an onslaught of negative media in New Zealand and Western media. But is it fair or deserved? David Robie has spent several weeks travelling in the country on sabbatical and finds the media negativity far from the reality of the “most friendly” country he has ever visited ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Leigh Sullivan discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan. They talk about Alan Jones accusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison of failing the immediate needs of drought-striken farmers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Senior Research Fellow in Geometallurgy/Applied Geochemistry, The University of Queensland Last month, scientists uncovered a mineral called Edscottite. Minerals are solid, naturally occurring substances that are not living, such as quartz or haematite. This new mineral was discovered after an ...
The Auckland-based collective talk origins, ambitions and making the rave accessible to everybody.Friendly Potential is an outfit that defies easy summary. They’re among the country’s most ambitious and prolific club promoters. In their almost five-years of operation, they’ve been responsible for the local debuts of electronic music icons including Detroit ...
Analysis: Two polls show support for Labour sliding, the government is accused of breaking another promise and the Greens's refusal to back a bill forces Labour to rely on National to get it through. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kiera Lindsey, University of Technology Sydney One spring morning in 1850, over 8,000 Sydneysiders marched through town to protest the resumption of transportation – the act of sending British criminals to Australia. It was the largest protest in Australia thus far, an ...
Two shareholders of failed insurance firm company CBL are leading a class action against the firm's former directors seeking compensation for financial losses. ...
Sam Brooks recaps the third episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and wonders why some of these queens don’t know how to sew.This episode asks, and sort of answers the main question that millions of people across the world: why would you come on Drag Race and not know how to sew?!There ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John M Clarke, Team Leader, Regional Projections, CSIRO Last month we lost Dr Penny Whetton – one of the world’s most respected climate scientists and a brilliant mentor to the next generation of researchers. Penny will also be remembered as a passionate ...
Ten moose were upended into the Dusky Sounds in 1910. Now, their descendants are getting their day in the sun.The climate crisis is affecting wildlife all over the country: rockhopper penguin populations are in drastic decline, tuatara eggs aren’t hatching females, and the ice walls keeping predators away from kea ...
Security footage of NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell being thrown out of a Tauranga bar looks unlikely to ever be aired - despite his leader Winston Peters promising a screening. ...
Amnesty International is concerned that Justice Minister Andrew Little's Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill could have the potential to undermine human rights in New Zealand. The Bill would give the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to ...
Expect the old campaigner Winston Peters to be at his belligerent best as he gears up for another election. He’s kept his party alive for 27 years and he shows no sign of quitting. The omens may be bleak—polls this week showed his party below the 5% threshold– but Peters ...
The National Party has agreed to take down any videos breaching the current rules around the use of parliamentary TV footage, as all parties try to reach consensus. ...
Recently the Health Promotion Agency released a report into hazardous drinking in New Zealand. The report shows that Māori who drink alcohol and live in deprived circumstances are less likely to have a harmful relationship with alcohol if they ...
Turkey-US joint-statement on military ops within Syria’s territory.The Turkish Embassy in New Zealand issued Evening Report this unabridged United States of America-Republic of Turkey joint-statement detailing what both sides agreed to regarding Turkey’s military operations within the so-called security zone within Syrian territory near Turkey’s southern border. It is ...
Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash didn’t mention what winners will receive, when he proudly called for entries for a new public award “to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector”. Nor did he mention the cost to taxpayers of this initiative. Point of Order’s checks with the website where more details have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona R Martin, Senior Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media, University of Sydney One of the basic tenets of the ABC Act is independence from government. Yet once again, in contravention to that principle, the federal government is trying to push through ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Lily Holloway.modernity to globalisationwhen I get there as still life and landscape and also portraitureseeking the cacti in small pots who dot the globeslices of pie offer up the vision after the sermonexpressing emotions without coherent narrative supportbecause no artist responded to this callemploying ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi to rule out any taxpayer-funded purchase or bailout for Mediaworks’s channel Three. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “For the last few months Mediaworks ...
The Police Commissioner's announcement that squadcars of officers with automatic rifles will patrol New Zealand's streets is dangerous and unnecessary, according to the criminal justice community organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. The ...
News broke this morning that Mediaworks is seeking to sell off, and even contemplating closing, its TV division. What might that mean for journalism?For journalism in New Zealand, the loss of Three’s TV division is a devastating blow. It is not yet known whether any of the news properties will ...
In our defence of our coalition Government policy on climate change, we fully support Government plan to use rail funding for rail infrastructure upgrades to promote use rail infrastructure for freight around NZ. ...
The billions of tonnes of plastic in our oceans isn’t going away any time soon, but innovative companies here and abroad are working together to find silver linings to this daunting problem.Fishing boats head out to sea and set their nets. They go back to shore. They head back out, ...
An EveningReport.nz investigation by Kevin ListKiwibank services. Image by Kevin List.Evening Report looks into the separation of Kiwibank from New Zealand Post, and considers the impact on the public’s access to banking services in their communities.Kiwibank. What’s going on? Kiwibank and New Zealand Post are in the ...
Local Government New Zealand today confirmed what many local election commentators have observed; that more of the voting public cast their ballots in favour of women candidates than ever before. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington (this week we totted up the data a day early, on Wednesday, to let our books ed. ...
New Zealand's mineral manufacturing sector is expected to face some testing times, with softer prices, tighter margins and sluggish export markets. ...
Portugal has been painted by pro-cannabis legalisation groups as a model to follow. Yet just last month, the mayor of Porto contradicted his previous pro-harm reduction position and endorsed reintroducing criminal penalties for drug use in public spaces. ...
Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short announced today the inclusion of six Cook Island First World War soldiers in the New Zealand and Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s official rolls of honour. ...
The latest statistics released by the Health Promotion Agency showing a dramatic fall in the numbers of cigarettes being sold in supermarkets, service stations, and liquor stores are being welcomed by the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ). ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Where to from here? How NZ First will win in ...
Aotearoa Climate Emergency (ACE), a climate change network, will host a conference in Wellington on 11 November (Armistice Day) to promote holding a Citizens Assembly in 2020, as a way of breaking the current political deadlock on treating climate ...
MediaWorks’ owners have called time after years of losses from its TV division. Sources say the company will announce it is for sale – if no buyers emerge, it will close within months.Three is facing the biggest crisis in its three decade history today, as its ownership will soon announce ...
Sam Brooks reviews Amazon Prime’s Modern Love, an anthology series based on the New York Times column dedicated to ‘love in all its forms’. A first date that ends up in the emergency room. A flagging marriage that finds new energy through tennis. The founder of a dating app who doesn’t ...
If we want to grow support for New Zealand’s aid, we need to get better at partnering with the ‘unlike-minded’ as well as the ‘like-minded’, and much better at telling people what we do with the money they give, says Josie Pagani, Executive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Orsola De Marco, Astrophysicist , Macquarie University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How are stars made? –Zali, age 8, Karkoo, South Australia. How are stars made? Well, stars are not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gita Mishra, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland All women know to expect the time in life when their periods finish and they reach menopause. Many might even look forward to it. What many women don’t ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney Since ancient times, horse behaviour, and the bond between horses and humans, has been a source of intrigue and fascination. The horse-lore that has accumulated over the centuries is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Wallis, Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland A move to the country is often presented in popular culture as an idyllic life, a place where you can escape the pressures of the city. It’s in television shows such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The just-announced inquiry into Australia’s retirement income system ought to be anything but run-of-the-mill. Taking place 25 years after the introduction of compulsory superannuation, it provides an opportunity to either fix a broken system, or discard ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan McCay, Law Lecturer, University of Sydney The rise of artificial intelligence has led to widespread concern about the role of humans in the workplaces of the future. Indeed, Israeli historian, futurist and publishing sensation Yuval Noah Harari warns in his most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Saunders, Phd candidate, University of Wollongong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people. You leave Sydney and head for holidays on the South Coast. You plan to catch a quick surf, ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...
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The big shock of the results in the weekend’s local elections was the unseating of Justin Lester as Wellington mayor. We invited him to pen a sort-of-valedictory.My three years as the mayor of Wellington ended on Sunday and I will forever remain grateful for the experience.I’m also acutely aware of ...
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Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Open mike 30/11/2011 
I find this unbelievable:
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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
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