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.
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
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There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders. Of those that have announced they are contending or have been suggesteed as possible contenders one is from Wellington, one from Waikato and the rest from Auckland.
More reason for Dunedin and the South Island to do as much as they can to speak up for themselves.
http://yourdunedin.org/2011/11/30/labour-leadership-and-dunedin/
george check your facts better
Robertson is an ex dunedite went to king’s high school. parker is from duendin as well.
Burn
He he Pete got [deleted].
[lprent: you know better]
[oops sorry Lprent, did not know it was on the banned list]
[lprent: Yeah, I got sick of the boring yu r!, NoT!!!, UR!!!!! style of flamewars. I just banned all mention of owned, pwned, and any variant and put many of the standard phrases and words into auto-moderation. That is why they don’t happen here – they are immediate turn offs for everyone apart from participants. ]
lol
Robertson has lived in Wellington ‘nearly 14 years’.
Parker doesn’t mention the south in his Labour bio.
Neither have stood for a Dunedin seat.
Parker won Otago in 2002, lost it in 2005, lost Waitaki in 2008 and moved to Auckland.
Pete David Cunliffe was born and bred in Timaru. You should try using those facty things in your comments.
and your point is what – your lack of a grasp of politics, bleeting on about wanting dunedin to be the centre of the universe…wellighton beltway and auckland urban seats are the powerhouses of labour.
Both parker and robertson have links to dunedin so that is a plus.
I’m advocating for Dunedin to get better representation, that will only happen if people in Dunedin people push for it as much as possible. Don’t you think regions should stand up for themselves?
If “wellighton beltway and auckland urban seats are the powerhouses of labour” and the regions are neglected then Labour might end up in the political shithouse. The majority of voters don’t live in Auckland and Wellington.
yes george and the people spoke for better represenation last saturday and how mnay vote did you get again ( no good on you for standing up mate) Yes as a solid hard core dunedite we need better representation and participation at the local level. Clare is on notice – sharpen up, sharpen the local party structure, organisation and activity…2014 starts today
Let’s see. Petey said:
There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders.
It is pointed out to him that Parker and Robertson are from Dunedin and Cunliffe from Timaru.
Petey then says
I’m advocating for Dunedin to get better representation.
Shifting the goalposts again …
Parker and Cunliffe are from Auckland, Robertson is from Wellington.
I wasn’t born in Dunedin, but that’s where I live now, that’s why I’m advocating for Dunedin.
I hope David Clark works for his electorate, even though according to you he’s ‘from Auckland’.
David Clark? which one is he?
Nearly as bad as the RNZ reporter this morning insisting that Jim Anderson was the ex member for Wigram.
People who profess to be experts, ought to know the basics.
David Clark is Labour MP for Dunedin North.
Woops my bad. My apologies – thought the thread was with the Davids in Auckland.
“The majority of voters don’t live in Auckland and Wellington.”
It’s getting close though. From Stats NZ:
Auck est. pop 1,486,000
Well Region 487,680
But, yes – the regions shouldn’t be neglected, just like all sorts of other groups shouldn’t be neglected, don’t you think?
I am impressed by the way Cunliffe has gone for a ticket and team that the diversity of potential Labour voters. He is not just promoting himself, but himself as leader of a team. He has foregrounded this by fronting to the media with Nania, and standing back while she has her say.
I thought this was a smart approach and obviously well prepared.
Cunliffe is obviously one of the top contenders. I’m interested to see what sort of vision he can offer Labour and New Zealand. He’ll need to demonstrate that he can cooperate and work together within and outside the party.
Why don’t you go save your own fraking useless one man party and leave rebuilding Labour to the Labour Party.
LOL. I wish there was a “like” button on this blog a.k.a Facebook.
Pete is in the same party as the most unprincipled political whore and seeks to lecture the Labour Party on what they should be doing. Bizarre.
I don’t think that you can really argue that the south is unrepresented. They do have their Labour MPs after all. Not in the leadership challenge? Well, that’s up to the MPs themselves – not Labour.
They don’t live in Dunedin either. They live all over the place so why should one place be raised above everywhere else?
Not to mention that people move all over the place. I was that exception, a native Aucklander. But I spent 4 years studying and working in Dunedin. 3.5 in Hamilton studying. When I was running around businesses in Dunedin it was surprising how many people came from elsewhere. There were more from-heres in Hamilton.
Lyn spent even more years working and studying in Dunedin as well and she was from Invercargill.
I have family down in Dunedin who moved from the north island.
I suspect that Pete sees himself as the representative of the parochial stay at homes of Dunedin. What’s the bet that is a constituency similar in size to the one he was seeking as the kiwiblog candidate?
Updated: I missed a sentence bouncing around the bus. Added it in italics.
I’ve lived in Dunedin less than half my life, and about 2/3 my working life having worked in various places including Auckland so I don’t consider myself ‘stay at home’.
The constituency for what I’m doing here includes Clare Curran and David Clark who have both expressed willingness to participate, in fact most MPs and candidates from Dunedin have said they will be in on a stronger combined Dunedin political voice. Similar regional representative initiatives are being tried elsewhere too.
My point was that parochial politics is all well and good if you’re trying to gain a local constituency. But it is bound to fail because kiwi’s move around all of the time. They tend to laugh at that kind of stupidity.
But trying to say that people currently living in other parts of damn country don’t understand the issues of Dunedin is dumb at best. There are a hell of a lot of us who have lived, studied and/or worked there for extended periods of time as well as in other parts of the country.
The Labour party needs to look for their best candidates, and the idea that we need outsiders who don’t even contribute work to the party throwing such spurious ideas around as a geographical quota system will be treated with the contempt that you deserve…
And if Clare or David Clark were daft enough to seriously raise it, then I’d pass the same judgement on them for exactly the same reason. I’d moderate it by the fact that they actually contribute to Labour. However it would still be a dumbarse idea – something that you seem to specialize in.
Yes Pete, lets force all of the Labour MPs from the south island put their name into the hat for the leadership, regardless of whether they want it or are capable of it.
Numpty.
Not suggesting anything like that, I’ve said that neither of the Dunedin MPs come close to being considered.
O’Connor has been mentioned because he is seen as representing ordinary people more than the Wellington Labour gaggle, but isn’t putting himself forward.
What would Dalziel’s chances be of deputy?
You weren’t just making the observation, you were making the observation as if it were a bad thing that *needs* to be changed.
Pathetic and Gulible Dunedin has only 100,ooo people so fact of life .
With a 132 votes you should ask Shonkey if he’ll move over and let you become leader come in on the National list.
And it’s not just that, Labour is getting a lot of criticism for it’s Dunedin slippage. More on worrying Dunedin South numbers.
If the response to pointing out things like this is abuse and denial the southern decline of Labour may continue to exceed the northern decline.
Seriously? You link-whore an Otago Daily Tory editorial with a line and a half on each book-end?
That’s about as reliable as quoting Farrar for impartial commentary, and your quote:original work ratio isn’t worthy of a first-year.
But then, even the ODT also had to acknowledge the effects of the low turnout and shifting demographics – comments you handily overlooked in your rush to blame labour.
Pete George doesn’t know shit before he opens his mouth. Robertson and Parker have deep Dunedin family roots.
Course, he’d know that if he was from Dunedin himself.
PG is beginning to piss me off, claiming he knows a damned thing about representing Dunedin.
David parker ran a business for many years in dunedin
David Cunliffe is from Timaru and visits his mum there regularly. His late father was the well known Anglican minister there. He was branded the “Red Reverend” by the Timaru Natz, who reviled him for continually saying that Social Justice was a Christian imperative
I was at university in Dunedin with Grant (Otago University President he was) and I’m sure he went to school in Dunedin.
I also summer clerked in David Parker’s DUNEDIN law firm.
So you might want to check your facts there Pete.
I’d be happy to see any sign that Parker is a strong advocate for Dunedin. He may have been, but over the last few years he’s been invisible here.
So what’s your point exactly? You are a fawning fan of John Key. What kind of advocate is he for anyone but big business white guys? Yet I don’t see you ever calling him to task.
Parker was speaking the right language this morning on National Radio about the widening gap between rich and poor. That suggests to me he (and the others) are keen to advocate for ALL New Zealanders, a trait much lacking in the current bunch of clowns.
I’m not ‘a fawning fan of Key’ and have taken him to task when I see fit, especially over his intransigence on super eligibility age and making snap prouncements without considering what people may want.
Talking about the widening gap between rich and poor is not the “right language”. It’s election sloganeering.
Discussing ways of dealing with the problems of the poor, those in poverty, how to get more and better paying jobs, how to deal with benefit dependency and abuse, practical ways of dealing with tax avoidance, trying to reverse rampant consumerism, dealing with the many tentacles of violence, acohol and drug abuse, that’s the sort of language that needs airing in my opinion. The difficult questions, not simplistic slogans.
Well, quite clearly the Labour party has policies to address all of those things. As Goff outlined during the campaign if anyone in the media took their nose out of Key’s arse to listen to him. Parker was speaking for 2 minutes on Morning Report.
I don’t see anything in National policies to address any of the issues you raise. And as for United Future, still not sure what or who the hell they stand for. Except Peter Dunne himself. First class trougher.
You ass, pete. You started saying “There’s a distinct lack of South Island in the Labour leadership contenders.”
When demonstrated to be wrong you then shrink “South Island” down to “Dunedin”.
When still demonstrated to be wrong you question whether the leading Labour MPs with dunedin roots actively advocate for Dunedin.
Then you take the first opportunity to bail out of the topic and slide back into the party nosensicalities that substitute for policy.
Pete thinks we don’t have scroll buttons so only his most recent comment counts.
I have come to the strong opinion that pete simply loves the attention and nothing more.
Maybe we should have a DNFTT day with Petey.
PG
You are a deluded fool, someone who thinks the system has a future even as the clear signs of collapses are all around them.
Presumably your current state of delusion is a consequence of ignoracne of the facts. If you are not scientifuically illiterate I suggest you stop behaving as though you are.
The facts can easily be obtained by an Internet search in the topics:
Peak Oil
Arithmetic, population and energy (Albert Bartlett).
Energy Bulletin
Nature Bats Last
Abrupt Climate Change
Of course the acqusition of knowledge is very much dependent on the desire to acquire it. My experience of political candidates is that they run from knowledge and truth as fast as possible.
If you are scientifically illiterate then it is probably too late to do anything about it.
You know Peter, perhaps some sort of South Island assembly is the way to go, you are right that the South Island needs some sort of voice, and perhaps devolving political power to North and South Island assemblies (yes, Im talking about state governments) could be a long term solution. Needs more thought though, by people who know more about this stuff than I ever will 🙂
Whilst Standardistas are scrapping over the labour leadership perjhaps we should reflect the leadership of Greece and Italy (and soon to be Spain etc)….ALL unelected technocrats in what are supposed to be democracies…banksters and banksters appointees to a man. Apparently as the austerity goes down riots are expected and the UK Foreign Offiice is planning evacuations.
We have a little bit of that going on here too, Canterbury’s resources being doled out by an appointed dictatorship displacing a democratic body. Funny, we too have a bankster for PM.
Yup and installed rapidly once the greece PM decided the people should have a say……woah there said euro bullies, can’t have that off you go and we will put our boy in.
If ever there was an example of boiling the frog this is it.
It is 1930’s Europe. The world is collapsing around us – at such a slow rate that few even recognise what is happenning. We all just blithely get up in the morning, eat our weetbix, slurp the coffee and wander off to our dailies… to be expected I suppose. My point is that people will not realise and read the details and between the lines of the news until it slaps them in the face and the patrols are in the street.
Dictator in Italy.
Dictator in Greece.
Dictator in Canterbury.
A piece on a couple of charmers who are now in a position of real power in Greece.
http://tiny.cc/yqrwk
And there we go. Thanks Willie, confirmation of both dictatorship and 1930’s Europe.
Alive right now today.
Time to wake up folks.
Truly ugly, tears and broken heads coming. I predict he will get lynched in the best Balkan tradition a la Ceausescu.
And backing them? The likes of BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan. The executive arms of the top 1% of the 1%.
This is the inevitable outcome of Socialism, lower standard of living after artificially increasing living standards with other peoples money to remain in government. Other peoples money runs out, and the socialist mirage dissappears.
Scary as that socialism stuff sounds to you IVV, I, for one, am prepared to see it tried for the first time in NZ. Where do we sign up for it? It’s gotta be better than the crap we’ve put up with under capitalism.
IVV, that article shows what happens when capitalists get their way not what happens when socialists get their way.
Crony cartel capitalism, IVV, the type you support.
Foolish vino man. It is the capitalist system which has led to this. You need to school up on the ways of the world and the ways of the bankers and money printers. It is that which has led to this and your inability to see that says more about you than anything else.
Of course it was the capitalist system and “the money men” that led to this. The capitalist system and the “money men” forced the goverments in question to borrow money to sustain an unsustainable standard of living for people that hadn’t earned the standard of living they were getting. The governments in question voted in again and again on the back of promises that they could only borrow to deliver on. Other peoples money then ran out since the Socialists reneged on paying back.
My vision is 20\20 vto, perhaps it is you who should have their eyes checked.
It sounds like you think the real problem is democracy, in vino bombast.
And the “oh, if you didn’t want the harm you shouldn’t have done it” is a rationalisation used by drug dealers across the planet – give out cheap samples to lure the unwary, mislead them as to the true contents of the product, and then keep selling to them once they’re locked in. And when they finally overdose, say that it’s their own fault and start the cycle again with some other schmuck.
“It sounds like you think the real problem is democracy”.
McFlock, quite the contrary, I have absolutely no issue with democracy, I am only pointing out that the failings of Socialism. Your use of drugs as a comparison is flawed. Drugs are, in most forms addictive and the users find extreme difficulty to withdraw from them. You then go on to blame the dealers for the users choices and stupidity.
Funnily enough, and ironically, Socialism preys on greed. “Socialism can give the poor a better standard of living” is the mantra. Except Socialists need to appeal beyond just the poor, deep into the middle class. Then it becomes greed on the part of these people. They get to vote themselves an income, and human nature being what it is, they do. The Socialist government, unable to divide wealth indefinitely, needs to pay for its largesse, ergo borrowing. And as I say, other peoples money runs out sooner or later.
Firstly, even if your perspective was accurate, the “socialist” governments were ” voted in again and again “. How is this not a fundamental problem with democracy?
Secondly, many people find extreme difficulty to withdraw from debt, just as others do from drugs. And are you genuinely saying that the dealer is not at fault if someone is “stupid” enough to start using drugs (if so, then my analogy was perfectly apt in that regard)?
And how is socialism “preying on greed” – surely it’s the users’/voters’ own “choices and stupidity” that are the problem? i.e. “democracy”? You seem to be blaming socialist politicians for the choices and stupidity of the electorate…
“people find extreme difficulty to withdraw from debt”
Debt is not a physical addiction. Moving on from the drug analogy, these people choose to incur debt to “improve” their standard of living. When it goes pear shaped, they have no one else to blame bar themselves. Ditto the Socialist government themselves. Again, I am not attacking democracy at all, if a Socialist government is voted in and Socialism fails, as it invariably will, blame does not lie outside the people and their elected government. Ergo, capitalism cannot be blamed for the failure of Socialism.
“You seem to be blaming socialist politicians for the choices and stupidity of the electorate…”
I am blaming Socialism itself (though in that breath, socialist politicians are culpable for perpetuating a political system that cannot sustain itself without lowering standards of living). People will invariably vote themselves income/benefits given the choice and when payment for this income\benefit is deferred. Is this stupidity? cleverness? greed? all of the above? If the choice is not given, there is no option but to live within one’s means.
The “addiction” of debt is when all one’s income goes to service the interest, rather than paying down the principle.
So, on the one hand “Socialism” is the problem when the electorate vote for to go into debt collectively, but “capitalism” is not the problem when individuals choose to go into dept individually, although on a population basis. And I’d suggest that the misleading politician is equivalent to the misleading sales rep.
More BS x 10
1) Debt IS like a physical addiction. In the old days debt used to be cancelled when you died. Now the creditors have so much power they can make generation after generation suffer with the debt until it is paid off, just like a P or heroin addiction.
2) People don’t CHOOSE their debt, especially in circumstances where wages and salaries have been SUPRESSED, and they are told that they need to borrow just to keep up with the Joneses (or simply to make ends meet) by DEBT PEDDLERS.
3) Credit card companies and other creditors (including investment banks) have placed masses of traps and stings in credit contracts that no ordinary person can be responsible for understanding; further when an irresponsible loan has been made to someone which they are unlikely to ever pay back it is the CREDITOR who is at fault.
I’ll give you another clue. Insolvent criminal organisations like most major investment banks of today should not be able to make and enforce credit contracts. Debt which is illegal and created by illegal organisations cannot be collected upon.
I’m not going to argue in support of Socialism, but you should consider for a moment the role of debt in Capitalism also, given that it has been funded exclusively by debt creation for thirty years, you know, that bubble that recently burst. German savers needed lenders to foist their credit on in order to further capitalize on it, the Capitalists needed debtors, and of coarse in USA, Oz, NZ et al, our consumption and property speculation was also fueled by debt.
It’s the lenders and the borrowers who are addicted to the drug of debt….
And the laugh of coarse, that liquidity in the Anglo Saxon economies has been funded by Communist Chinese savers and Wahhabi Saudi oil barons, open the blinds IVV! The Cold War is over, both ideas failed!
The reason why we end up borrowing is because of the existence of the rich. No other reason. Without them taking the wealth from everyone else we’d be able to afford a hell of a lot more for everybody.
Ivvy leaguer which socialists were these drunken fool the ones in NZ have cleaned up Nationals borrow and Hope policy every time and it will be the same in 2014 the asset sales won’t bring in the money our commodity driven economy won’t either slick slogans are just empty promises just like your head .Borrowing Bills English has managed less than 0.1% growth and borrowed to the hilt now he has to pay it back Austerity will lead to negative growth which Dipton will actually end up having to borrow more and not pay any thing back!
Bullshit IVV, the meme doesn’t work, German wage suppression causing trade imbalances, predatory German & French banks, tax evasion and a drop in tax take as a byproduct of a global recession caused by Crony Capitalists etc etc etc go much further to explaining it than your convenient Right Wing Meme, why is it you guys all seem so easily swayed by simple sloganeering?
Some stats on your Socialists IVV, bet all those neo-lib economies would be envious of those results, oh, no… hang on a minuite, they’re not trying to trickle down are they, they’re trying to redistribute from the 99% to the 1%…
http://product.datastream.com/economics/gateway.aspx?guid=b0820cdf-7e27-4a24-8615-89c21d55adf1&chartname=Sweden%20economic%20overview&groupname=Sweden&date=20111129&owner=ZRTN179&action=REFRESH
Interesting set of graphs AAMC. How about you try this one, a speech by the Swedish Prime Minister of the time, given at the London School of Economics in 2008:
“Instead, I would argue that the explanation lies in other factors.
The vital balance between the institutions in the model disappeared and socialism swept over Swedish society.”
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/10296/a/99193
Have a read, be enlightened.
Rhetoric is the same as here, with one major change: “welfare dependency” in NZ is regarded as “exclusion” in Sweden, with a clear shifting of the implicit responsibility.
Although I agree that NZ should work towards achieving Sweden’s Gini coefficient and union membership rates.
In vino, there is more debt in the world than there is money to repay it. Ask yourself how that happenned and what is required to rectify the situation. It may help explain to you the insolvent ponzi scheme that is the debt-as-money system we have. This is the crux of the problem – the capitalist creation of the current money creation system. It aint nothing to do with any socialist system. A bigger picture view is needed to consider this situation than simply saying “dumb socialists shouldn’t borrow so much” (and on that note how does NZ’s recent “socialist” labour government paying down debt and the current “capitalist” national government taking on debt fit into your simplistic view on this?).
Sweden has more and steadier economic growth than our economy.
Latin Lunatic
Child poverty doesn’t exist in Sweden as well Child poverty didn’t exist in this country until Muldoons Sinking lid then Roger Dougal ass brought back 19th century Neo liberal elitism
I’d rather be informed by current data than speeches by Prime Ministers…
Yanis Varoufakis, University of Athens, talks to Crooked Timber’s Henry Farrell.
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/39995?in=12:28&out=17:41
Here an article Naomi Klein tweeted a link to about Fascism, Austerity & Greece, haven’t had a chance to read yet but it came highly recommended.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/11/mark-ames-austerity-fascism-in-greece-%E2%80%93-the-real-1-doctrine.html
Mixed ownership model.
Now here is something interesting from Europe.
James Murdoch reappointed head of BSkyB
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10769795
“Murdoch had been expected to be re-elected as News Corp owns 39 percent of BSkyB, but the number of votes against him was unprecedented.”
So a minority group, but with a substantial shareholding, could have a major influence on policy. That’s how Key’s mates work. New Zealand, you were warned.
I wonder when they will go full regalia with the jack boots and everything. Makes me all warm inside watching that sort of thing knowing the youth will soon be working for $10.40 an hour.
Sorry! Forgot to add
…sarcasm.
Warned of what logie? That whatever majority required by the company’s constitution voted for him? A minority cannot vote in an officer. Should the privatised company’s constitution require >50% to appoint an officer, then the Governments proposed 51% shareholding will have the controlling say on who gets the position, though traditionally, a major shareholder will have at least a Board Member to represent their interests. Your comment is just scaremongering nonsense.
You’d obviously be upset then, if Maori bought jointly into one or more of the privatised companies and had Board representation?
I think the Labour party are mad, they should have kept Phil Goff for at least a year, forget about a leadership challenge, and concentrated on going for the National’s jugular by getting out there on the second and half second targeting that a@#$hole called Dunne, the Maori Party and Banks and the promises National has already started to break ie Forest & Bird.
If the msm do not cooperate and run another campaign of mis information like they have for the last three years bypass the a$%#@holes by posting on Facebook & Twitter and any other form of media that can bypass the msm.
By having a leadership challenge now they are playing into the hands of the msm who along with right wing commentators were telling us yesterday that Phil Goff was resigning, before it was announced by Phil Goff.
National and msm will run 2014 election the same way as this one. A beauty contest, so
therefore as Phil Goff is going to be replaced we need someone with not only the charisma, but also the necessary intellect and debating skills.
I also think Goff should have stayed for a time. But in the end he had to make the decision, and if he felt that many of his caucus colleagues did not want him to stay on that would have been that.
Strategically I think you understand the issues however and it is a mistake that Labour is losing him as leader at this juncture.
+1
Half millionaire
Goff hasn’t got your head of steam and aggression. If you want things to happen you need to have a curmudgeon like yourself in the political seat. We need a balance – some civilised statements of policy and a large helping of let’s have some vision and get on with new, practical, worthwhile projects good for NZ growth and all citizens, and stop bugg…. around.
posting this again as the MSM do not seem interestd in the article’s clear message to NZ workers
(you lost, we won) and (ACC? oh that’s a goner too)
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/80-starting-out-wage-way-ck-105234
The tragic Gary Speed suicide, coupled with the election result, have left me pretty down in the mouth. Then I come here and all I see is bloody Pete George back to his usual self. Please Pete, could you take a break or just stop going on. It is very tedious, your constant stirring.
I gave up on reading most of PG’s comments long ago. He has nothing to contribute to the debates. Just a lot of irrelevant noise.
ditto
ditto
Bit like his leader. About to make the same decision myself.
Amen! I hate squashing someone’s free speech but he’s like some crazy man screaming outside your house day and night. At some point he’s got to be moved on.
Ian, well said.
Well I don’t think many of the left-wing commentators that constantly bite back or even bite first are any better.
😎
National’s demoralizing propaganda
Yesterday John Key did one of his turgid video journals in which he describes people who are opposed to asset sales as being “scared”.
Once I saw that he’d be yappin’ for 3:38min I didn’t bother to proceed. Who needs that noise? I think Id go mad with frustration trying to educate people that ignoring your people isn’t a trait of leadership. Fran O’Sullivan seems to think so: “…he is prepared to take a leadership role on this score.” Once again for Fran, and for all others, corporate behaviour does not define the meaning of words. Managers are not leaders. Bullying is not team building. Repeated slogans of ignorance is not reasoning. Morality is not a product of profit.
Business people with ambition are always yapping on about wanting ‘leadership’. I think it’s probably a code word for legal moves to bring in 10% personal and company tax.
No, it’s code for bring back dictatorship and we’ll be the dictators. Absolute rule doesn’t work without the help of the rich and powerful.
although it is not a legal petition it is a start, and hopefully will provoke those with resources to advance the urgent need for a full petition and a binding referendum
http://www.averagekiwi.com/?p=631
You can also sign the petition to save the Denniston Plateau from open cast coal mining here.
ty, and shared
So what do J P Morgan Chase, Deutsche bank, Goldman Sachs and John Key have in common. Oh oops, a collapsing Bank of America and the collapse of the Reserve currency. So now is the time to loot the world by buying real world assets, preferably for cents on the dollar, with the afore mention soon to be dumped and worthless toiletpaper… I mean US dollar.
And aren’t they lucky John Key can help them here!
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/with-bank-of-america-on-the-verge-of-breaching-5-00-my-question-of-the-day-is/
Ex SFO chief prosecutor charged
The former chief prosecutor of the Serious Fraud Office has been ordered to hand over her passport after being charged with using forged documents.
I think that the SFO should start on John Key and his bankster mates!
They’ll probably be too busy at the SFO studying their own navels. Is that a bit of fluff I see?
Heh..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6061417/SFO-worker-on-forgery-charges
At the time Feeley was under fire from the media for sending an email to staff celebrating prosecutions against Bridgecorp and inviting them to drink a $70 bottle of champagne that had been “left behind” in Bridgecorp’s offices.
The State Services Commission called Feeley’s actions “ill-advised” but accepted he had not acted with “dishonest intent”.
The charges laid against Killeen show she is accused of supplying the National Business Review and the New Zealand Herald with another email, which appeared to also be written by Feeley.
Police allege Killeen accessed SFO computer systems and forged that email, before sending it to the media organisations.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the contents of the alleged forgery would have damaged Feeley’s reputation further, but as he denied ever writing it an investigation was begun into its origins.
Killeen was made redundant last year after restructuring at the SFO.
Did I scare everyone away from the Paradign Shift thread?
Not too much truth agian, I hope.
Regarding the failure of people to respond:
‘If you hear a fire alarm you should ignore it and carry on with whatever you are doing. Only when the paint on the door of the room you are in starts to turn black should you begin to think about your escape plan.’ That was tongue in cheek, of course. However, studies have repeatedly demonstrated the reluctance of people to respond to alarms. Upon hearing a fire alarm, rather than taking decisive action, subjects in groups tend to seek cues from others; if others ignore the alarm, they also tend to. That is particularly so if an authority figure is present and that person ignores the alarm, or even worse, tells everyone to ignore the alarm. On the other hand, if an authority figure suggests the venue be evacuated immediately, all those present usually respond quickly.
We thus begin to understand why only a tiny minority of people in western societies have responded to numerous alarms which have been sounded by aware people on a wide range of issues over many decades: authority figures have consistently ignored the alarms, so those who look to them for guidance have ignored the alarms; the corporate media have downplayed the significance of the alarms, have lampooned them, or have not reported them at all. When we add the general observations that people believe what they want to believe, and that doing nothing is normally the easiest option, we see a recipe for disaster.
Having been transported across Europe in railway wagons, most Jews arriving at camps in Poland had their possessions and clothing taken from them. Even as they stood naked in the ‘shower’ rooms, many had little idea what would happen next. Only when the gas canisters began releasing their poison did they fully comprehend the nature of their predicament.
All the evidence indicates it will be much the same for the bulk of humanity when it comes to dealing with the major issues of our times. We now face the most testing time in all of history, for which everyone who is in a position to prepare should do so. However, it seems that only when everything they think they have has been taken away from them, only when they have lost everything they think they are entitled to, will most people realise the full extent of their predicament. It seems that only when they have lost ‘everything’ will most people living in industrialised societies fully realise the extent to which they have been lied to and misled.’
And on fascism and abuse of populations::
‘In the 1940s the Germans established death camps to eliminate several million of those the Nazi leadership regarded as degenerate or not useful as slaves. After the war, many Jews who attempted to reach Palestine were held in detention camps by the British. Some freed Jews who attempted to circumvent the quota system and enter Palestine were arrested and deported back to Germany, where they were held in detention camps similar to those they had been freed from.
In Cambodia the Pol Pot regime attempted ‘the great leap backwards’ by breaking up families and forcing people onto the land. Arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, torture and murder became commonplace, with hundreds of thousands of people disappearing in the ‘Killing Fields’.
September 11, 1973. Chile. The beginning of a period during which South American nations were subjected to military rule, whereby thousands of ordinary people ‘disappeared’, sometimes after an extended period of torture, because they were socialist or because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At least five million innocent people have died as a consequence of wars initiated by the US since 1945. In recent times Americans have murdered, tortured, and abducted countless numbers of innocent people and held them for years without trial. The US has used depleted uranium and other weapons banned under international treaties in Iraq and elsewhere. The UK, Australia, Canada, NZ and numerous other ‘civilised Christian nations’ have been party to, and have supported these illegal and immoral actions.
Many people believe that a secretive group of global elites have a ‘New World Order’ plan to gain total control of the world. Under this plan, everyone would use the same currency (set up by them), eat the same food (genetically engineered by them) and be subservient to a single world government (controlled by them).
It is surely our duty, and in our own self-interest, to ensure that wherever we live, we do not end up governed by despots who control our food, our water and our liberty, and subject ordinary citizens to arbitrary arrest, torture and murder.
Most of us live just a few steps away from such tyranny.’
http://www.publishme.co.nz/shop/theeasyway-p-684.html
Surprise surprise!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6061110/NZs-shadow-economy-on-global-charts
As I’ve said, we can’t afford the rich.
no doubt about it.
this election was rigged.
when the acting profession mounts a campaign against video piracy and the minister says you are getting ufb so you can nudge nudge wink wink download pirated movies then you know that something is rotten around here.
I see National are trying to get assets sold ASAP. Before public opposition has a chance to build.
How do we get a petition for a referendum against the sales going?
It will have to be non-partisan to involve the National voters who know that selling your tools, to buy a days groceries, is insane.
Especially as in a couple of years national will claim TINA to sell the remainder after their policies have ramped up our debt.
The plan was always to go like the wind as soon as the GG can annoint the coalition, prepare for urgency people and lots of already prepared stuff being slammed through.
look at the papers/TV etc it’s all about labour, a party they ignored whilst in opposition until they got a tad huffy over teacup gate and that was probably faked outrage at that. It’s more diversionary tactics.
Watch shonkey and his dealing room as this is where they will do some serious damage with his dodgy ‘mandate’…..I’m glad winnie’s around for once.
So when are we going to hear the teacup tapes and get some of those treasury papers released eh !
http://www.pundit.co.nz/
An excellent (and cheering) analysis of the election results from Nicky Hagar.
Well worth reading the whole thing, but I’ll leave a little teaser:
The second and related issue facing National is its terribly thin majority in Parliament, which looks set to drop to a single seat after special votes (with Peter Dune and John Banks included).
People unfamiliar with Parliament could presume that a one-seat lead is enough. But the mechanics of running a government are more complex than that. Yes, they can (probably) win crucial votes. Yet a terrible friction slows down processes and there is much more scope for mischief and disruption. This is bad news for National. The bare 50% coalition achieved on Saturday (with virtually 50% against them), even when Key was at the height of his political support, is the reason Key has been moaning about the election results in the media: blaming the electoral system when his real problem is the lack of a natural majority coalition. Governing just got much less fun. (By the way, the Maori Party is therefore in a much stronger bargaining position than it was in the last three years. Watch to see if they realise this.)
I’m pretty sure that they do.
Last time around, the NATs, Mp, UF, ACT totalled a magnificent 69 MPs at their height. 68 after they lost Harawira.
Now what might NAct pull together this time. 59 NATs (loss of 1 after specials), 3 Mp, 1 UF, 1ACT. That’s a much reduced 64 MPs, in total.
Less the 3 Mp votes and Key is frakked.
Actual link
Thanks for the link. Very good article and comments.
I agree with Hagar on his analysis of National’s need to disguise much of their unpopular agenda, and the way they conduct smear campaigns through proxies. This makes it so hypocritical when National and other right wingers go on about Labour doing negative campaigning. At least Labour is more direct and doesn’t distance themselves from attacks on National/Key by franchising it out to proxies.
I remember watching Question Time frequently in the period leading up to the 2008 election campaign. It was quite obvious to me that Rodney Hide was doggedly going after Peters, leading the media on the issues, and attempting to take out Winston, and in the process smear Clark and her government.
As Hagar says, Winston was dogged by scandal for months (some deserved, some a beat up) all coming to a crescendo as voting day approached.
And, of course, Hide’s reward was Epsom. But the gratitude from National didn’t last the full term.
Furthermore, on the 2008 campaign against Peters, as Hagar says,
Peters must now be thinking, revenge is a dish best served cold.
I hope Hagar’s right that national and ey have now moved beyond the height of their popularity, and will struggle through a turbulent term with their slim parliamentary majority.
Read it just saying and what an interesting perspective from Nicky. I like to quote the ultimate Optimist who yells out to friends he spotted through an open window as he hurtles in free fall from the 10th story, “Alright so far!”
Now I think of that every time that John Key appears onscreen.
“How’s it going John?”
“Alright so far,” grins John.
The very interesting angle will be how the Maori Party, who consult with their grass-roots over the coming week, actually decide to act. Risk oblivion if they support National or risk oblivion if the don’t.
Over heard in Cambridge yesterday ,From an unknown person/
Key went abroad and made $50 million .Shearer went abroad and saved 50 million lives, Interesting ,and this over heard in Blue ,Blue, Cambridge.
I see Tory spokeman Garner is already starting his new anti Labour campaign .Last night on TV3 he was already stating that there would be a
“blood bath ” in Labour. The Labour Party needs to challenge this creep now ,tell him to get stuffed and refuse to have any dealings with him just withhold any news from the labour party until we get a fair go from this National Party Hack
A new report shows that in terms of tax evasion, NZ comes 51 on a list 145 countries:
Isn’t it amazing how little time the MSM give to such stupendous levels of tax evasion compared with the relatively smaller amount of beneficiary fraud.
PS: Apologies LynW, just saw you posted this already!
$7.1b in lost tax – I think that’s more than the entire Unemployment Benefit and yet the RWNJs are concerned with a few million from benefit fraud and will do nothing about this loss.
$ 6 billion per year from losses due to child poverty
$5to6 billion lost through alcohol abuse
Misogynist a Great NZ Businessman
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10769881
I have just seen the “candidates” for the new leader of the Labour party on Close up with Sainsbury. What the hell is the Labour party playing at? They are all bearing their souls with Cuniliff confessing to his short comings. Lovely. Labour should have told Sainbury and TV1 go and get f@#$ked, you, the country and National will find out about our new leader when we come charging out in our new tank and start breaking down the walls of Nationals very vulnerable fortress They should also tell Sainbury to do some in depth reporting on Key’s team and I suggest Jerry Brownarse Minister of Disasters would be a very good candidate to start with.
I actually enjoyed it, I knew Cunliffe would do exceptionally well, Parker would be bland, but Shearer was the wild card. Rugged good looks, heroic back story, housewives will be abandoning Key in their droves..
This is true. I had a friend visiting at the time, she is quite a “no politics” type of person, but thought David Shearer, along with his heroic back story as you put it, was, in her words, the sort of guy that could turn her onto politics.
I voted not to convict dr.conrad murray in the msn poll.
In the short time Nick Hagar’s post has been on Pundit, it has already been read by 2,054 people. I bet some are from Key’s office. Expect an anti Hagar hate flood.
It was a good post.
Regardless of hateflood or not, Key got over the line just as his stock started sinking. And its still sinking.
Consultation on proposed open cast coalmine was on the TV3 news suggesting that that Wilkinson waited until the first day after the election and justifying it with depends on what a major mining event is. Nothing on TV1.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
This is a test.