Two things stood out here
– there is no pressure on the parent who does a runner and these are largely male
– that one in two adult women will be in sole charge of a family at some point in their adult lives.
Now, the been there done that group of women, with a few exceptions like PB, are unlikely to be too impressed with the benefit hounding going on and women vote on the left.
Just how much would it cost the labour party to show at least some loyalty to a large group of their demographic and at least oppose some of the hounding. FFS some of it, like sending out letters to people’s 16 year old daughters telling them to go onto contraception aren’t even policies that it will cost anything to reverse ever – they just violate the civil rights of a young girl who has had no say in her domestic situation whosoever.
And, I am repeating myself here, if this is such a good idea for 16 year old girls to get these letters, then perhaps some voluntary group should receive a grant to write letters to all 16 year old girls on the same topic, even the daughters of Nact politicians.
I like this young woman! She is at the center of the “Topless Jihad” – a global protest where women bare their breasts rebelling against female oppression after Amina Tyler posted topless pictures of herself with “My body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone’s honor” written in Arabic.
Obviously this is found to be highly objectionable so her family shipped her off to a psych ward stating publically that she was suicidal and that is why she has posted the pics.
Dear Author: I am a Muslim woman and think Amina’s protest is entirely culturally relevant in post-revolution Tunisia. Read the writing on Amina’s body: “My body is mine, not somebody’s honor” in Arabic. No protest that was universally loved and agreed with changed the world for the better. Please stop speaking for “everyday Muslims” such as myself. We can do without the sweeping generalizations about the “West” and “Islam”. They are simplistic and silly – even from someone taking on this native informant role. Muslim (or western) societies are not homogenous.
1. Required EQC to immediately shut down all external email systems – there will be no emails going into the organisation and none will be sent out.
2. Required EQC to immediately shut down all business-to-business systems and data exchanges as well as access into EQC systems by external parties.
3. Asked the Government’s Chief Information Officer Colin MacDonald to investigate and oversee the solutions for issues relating to information management within EQC.
I had to laugh (otherwise I would cry), so now instead of EQC doing nothing Gerry Brownlee has made it mandatory.
I would say the leaks are in all likelyhood deliberate, sent by staff disgruntled with the underhand way eqc is dealing with claims. Either that or they have some seriously incompetent staff with access to data that they really shouldnt. ( ala winz kiosks)
Wondered about just how accidental the EQC leaks really were Cricklewood.
And were the amounts of compensation listed on the released documents actually being given to the claimants or being with-held?
Coal Free Mangatawhiri and Auckland Coal Action are joining forces on Monday to protest Fonterraʼs proposed new coal mine beside state highway 2.
Protesters will gather from 2pm at Mangatawhiri south of Auckland for the roadside rally protesting Fonterraʼs proposed new Mangatangi Mine.
They hope to engage with people queued in traffic on SH2 on their way back to Auckland.
Local residents, iwi and supporters from Auckland will be calling for ʻno new coalʼ and making the point that ʻcoal cooks the climateʼ in an awareness raising campaign against the proposed mine.
Public submissions on resource consents for the mine, closed this week with Waikato Regional Council and Waikato District Council. Hundreds of submissions were sent in by local residents, iwi and others opposing the proposed new coal mine at Mangatawhiri.
The resource consent applications were made by Fonterraʼs coal mining subsidiary Glencoal Energy Ltd, which is seeking consents for an open cast mine on farmland at Mangatawhiri right beside SH2.
If the mine goes ahead it will be highly visible to anyone driving along SH2. The mine is intended to produce 120,000 tonnes of coal a year to supply the Fonterra dairy factories at Waitoa, Hautapu and Te Awamutu. Fonterraʼs nearby Kopako coal mine is predicted to close in 2014.
Instead of opening a new coal mine in a farming community, locals believe Fonterra should phase out coal in favour of locally available cleaner burning, wood waste.
At the time of the farmer vote to turn Fonterra into a shareholding corporation there was severe misgivings that farmers, particularly less well off share milkers who had no vote, and whose incomes are reliant on milk prices would suffer, and so it is.
Fonterra directors’ failure to use the dairy giant’s stellar first half earnings to increase the full-year dividend guidance has confirmed predicted tension between farmer and external-investor interests in the new capital structure.
Stuff.co.nz
As farms become corporate factories with out roofs that increase profits, by driving down the livelihoods of the producers. Less sharemilkers will enter the industry, resulting in bigger farms staffed with employees, who like most NZ workers over the last three decades will have declining incomes. While, year after year, in favour of better shareholder returns, profits continuously exceed previous records. That is, until the whole top heavy edifice topples over as the profit bubble bursts under the combined weight of lack of skilled farmers without any commitment to the land, and less forgiving climatic conditions that will make farming less productive and rural life harsher for those doing it at the milk face.
Critics of the hybrid capital structure predicted a tug of war over earnings between external investors wanting a strong dividend and farmers needing the highest possible milk price to secure their livelihoods.
This week’s half-year result was the first time Fonterra’s financial performance has been put under the microscope by sharemarket analysts, and those predictions proved true.
Forsyth Barr’s Andy Bowley said the size of the profit Fonterra managed to generate came as a big surprise to most market analysts.
Stuff.co.nz
The move to squeeze more out of farmers in favour of profits, may have some unforeseen (read forseen) outcomes.
Asked for his response to directors leaving the dividend unchanged at 32c, Bowley said: “I think two things. One, that the second half of the year will be much more challenging for them because of a number of factors including higher input costs (read climate change fueled drought) which will pressure the margins in some of their businesses.
Yeh I saw this too and it was a prefectly predictable outcome. Even at the time it was obvious that the Fonterra managers were going back and back with the proposals no matter how often the farmers voted them down. It was very much in management interests I imagine, to have two groups with vested interests, Farmers and bond holders to play off against each other, for their own gain and ultimately the sort of gain that comes from stock market listing and moving the whole lot into overseas ownership.
Mind you most of them vote for the Nact’s too, be careful what you wish for perhaps?
More legislation written for corporations and against the rights of our people to protest.
Masked as protecting us from our own “reckless and dangerous” behaviour and delivered by the Glove Puppet from Tauranga, Simon Bridges.
Parroting prepared lines, statements that were shameless begging the question and all with a deadpan face the Glove Puppet from Tauranga presented restrictions on our right to protest mineral and oil exploration off our coast.
– http://www.3news.co.nz/Crackdown-on-anti-drilling-protesters/tabid/423/articleID/292432/Default.aspx
Bridges also, when asked, pretty much ruled out putting the O and G revenue into an investment fund (like in other oil rich nations). Which means all this money is going to be frittered on tax cuts.
More from the Bank Bailout U$K Austerity Class War:
Disability rights activist Susan Archibald, in Edinburgh, said: ‘We have heard talk about “strivers and skivers”.
‘One person can be a striver one day and then get made redundant. Will they be a skiver the next day? That’s how easy it happens.’
“John McArdle, from anti-disability discrimination campaign Black Triangle, said: ‘Every day our campaign receives more messages from desperate people who are on the brink of suicide.
‘This government is killing disabled people, and we must stand together and say enough is enough.’
Have seen this really interesting report on ChristChurch in the http://www.wsws.org website. It’d be good to if we could comment and/or criticise on it?
“Residents face bitter winter in New Zealand’s quake-hit city”
“Residents of the New Zealand city of Christchurch, devastated by the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed 185 people in February 2011, are facing a bitter winter. While the National Party government, city council and business investors concentrate on rebuilding the central business district, thousands of people, particularly those in working class suburbs, are into their third year of unresolved social stress and personal dislocation.” http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/30/nzch-m30.html
The Money Market’s P@mp John Yankee continues to flog off this Nation’s commonwealth (Asset Sales) and our ability to help and support our own people. The Market in the end does not mind if you end up in a workhouse. 🙁
This from our colleagues working hard to oppose workfare:
In one of his most disgusting manoeuvres yet, last week Iain Duncan Smith laid legislation to rewrite history to stop the 225,000 people who were sanctioned on his unlawful workfare schemes being able to reclaim what they are due.
To make matters worse, the bill is being rushed through parliament; the second reading; committee stage; and third reading are all scheduled for one day: this Tuesday.
As if this wasn’t outrageous enough, Labour have indicated that they will support the Bill.
“The savage attacks on benefits for unemployed, low paid workers, single parents and disabled which will push millions further into poverty and despair.
The vicious attacks on those in the rented sector whose landlords charge huge rents but who now face a cap in their Housing Benefit which is seeing families evicted and shipped out of London to find cheaper accommodation around the country.
The disgusting Bedroom Tax which will force council and social landlord tenants who claim Housing benefit and have a spare room to either pay more rent or downsize to a smaller home. This will hit 600.000 tenants. Tory Welfare minister responsible for this bedroom tax is Lord Freud who has a plush 4 bedroom London home as well as an 8 bedroom mansion elsewhere.”
Kyle Bass runs Hayman Capital. Here he talks about Japan’s impending financial/demographic implosion (including 10 finance ministers in just the last 5 years).
Not pretty. He makes several references to future severe social discontent as a result.
“Bank of Cyprus depositors could lose up to 60% of their savingsCypriot finance officials say initial losses will be 37.5%, but up to 22.5% more could be taken if bank needs further capitalisation
But, but , but TPTB said Cyrpian banks were over-flowing with dirty Russian money, where is it then!
After an initial estimate that the capital controls would be in place for a matter of days, the government then warned later in the week they could last for as long as a month.
Capital controls will not be coming off, the accounts will be empty before that happens!
Capital controls in Iceland remain in place more than five years after its economic crisis.
And a finger in the eye for Iceland, balance is important in the MSM!
So, a year and a half until the next general election, and the Labour party are still shitting on their own doorstep, mired in a fantasy land game plan to win (bribe) back 5% of the middle ground they think will open the door to the treasury.
Dumb arses.
The win is in the numbers who didn’t vote last time.
Bollocks to the sensibilities of centre right politics of nothingness.
Go left, that man.
If the nat’s are the worst negotiators, then NZ Labour must surely rank as worst political strategists, ever.
Labour must surely rank as worst political strategists, ever
Not necessarily. The way I see it, this is strategy which is wanted by the *internationalists*, and being rolled out effectively, by giving the NACT a free ride, to what could easily be another 3 years.
As if it matters in real terms who the government is, the decline will continue, as the *foreign owners*, like any good hedge, control both sides of bet!
Try viewing Labour’s actions and strategy from the standpoint of it’s present as a centrist middle class party. One which is focussed on continuing (but socially moderating) the political economic status quo, while appealing to the top 1/3 of income earners.
When you do that it’s approach becomes entirely consistent and coherant.
I’m sure someone believes in what they’re doing, somewhere, playing the game like they are, but whatever the outcome (crushing defeat 😉 ), watching the cogs turn is like them cleaning a hammer with a walnut.
I can’t believe parties facing another three years in opposition aren’t out there getting those stay at home voters interested, engaged and motivating change, unless like said, they don’t really care about the majority of kiwis and pay lip service to the plight facing New Zealanders.
Time for that new left wing party idea to crop up again.
But seriously, what answers has political science given us in the last 20 years? The other area to defund is economics, finance and financial engineering.
Yeah, when I think about it CV none worth listening to and to be honest once I’ve sorted out who the unhinged ideologues are and who’s worth listening to I reckon the most astute and nuanced appraisals are usually to be found buried in comments threads.
I thought the Mayflower was one of the first four ships to get to America. They did that on sail I thought. Maybe I am not up with the modern ideas that now it is okay to have a major negative oil spill event every five years or so. Just part of the risk profile engineered in using the modern equipment and modern efficiencies of corporations as accepted by the modern governments.
You made the allegation, so the burden of proof is yours. Don’t expect me to assist you.
Slander is what this massive hole is all about. Slander was also the issue that was being discussed just before I was moderated into posting on open mike.
Ugly, you’re the one talking about “non-harm paedophilia” as if there is such a thing.
Context is everything. The original context was girls 13 and over who were repeatedly soliciting.
If these girls were being harmed, these who was forcing them?
And I suggest that this comment implies you think 13 year old girls can give valid informed consent to have sex with an elderly tv star.
Why are you bringing up Saville now? He is dead, had nothing to do with the South Auckland flap.
Just like you brought up fantasing.
Just like you brought up NABMLA.
You’re just slinging shit to divert from the fact that you’ve got no argument.
I reckon your comments are proof enough. You seem to think that harm can only result from force. And the original point wasn’t about slander, it was about appropriate responses to revelations that adults are paying to screw children. If you reckon a possible slander against yourself is more important, then that also says much about you.
You seem to think that harm can only result from force.
I don’t think that.
And the original point wasn’t about slander, it was about appropriate responses to revelations that adults are paying to screw children.
O.K. Slander is important because it was the issue that was being discussed just before I was moderated into posting on open mike. It would be too convenient for you if I just dropped the issue.
if these girls were being harmed, these who were focing them?
Assuming you meant “then who was forcing them”, why are you raising force if force at the time is irrelevant to harm?
slander is a falsehood, right? What falsehood did I utter? You’re arguing that sex between a thirteen year old and a sixty year old can be consensual for the child, are you not?
McFlock, force is relevant because without anyone forcing the girls the most likely explanation is that they were soliciting of their own free will. The fact that they were doing this repeatedly suggests that they were not being harmed, so non-harm paedophilia is not an oxymoron like you said it was.
Like Redlogix said, paedophilia usually refers to pre-pubescent children, but in the rape culture thread it was also used in the context of older men having sex with teenage girls.
Your falsehood was:
Actually, I brought up an organisation that defends child rape. Like you do.
You couldn’t show proof of your allegation, your argument was:
I reckon your comments are proof enough
So McFlock, do you think that you can slander other people and just get away with it?
Frankly, a kid in the lower half of their teens is a child. Legally, as well.
Secondly, children can’t consent or do a contract. They have issues with impulse control, abstraction, and long term planning.
Thirdly, there are economic and other power issues at play in the case of prostitution, and sex in general. These are marked when one party is adult and the other is not. Both adults, fair enough, both can give informed consent all else being equal. Both kids, well both can be making the same mistake if it appears consensual. But an adult and a kid? Any adult with the interests of the child as a concern would bail based on the power imbalance implicit in the relationship.
Secondly, children can’t consent or do a contract.
In general this is true not because they are not able to reach an agreement, but because they are under the power of another, i.e. their parents.
In the case the South Auckland girls the parental power argument isn’t so solid: either the girls are under the power of their parents which makes the parents responsible, or they are not (ie the family is dysfunctional), in which agreement and contract may be possible.
It’s got nothing to do with being under the power of their parents.
Kids can’t give informed consent because they lack experience, information and the ability to process that with long term objectives taken into full consideration.
Just to spell it out: kids, including young teens, cannot consent to sex.
Sex without consent is rape.
You argue that young teens at the very least (you’ve been cagey on the exact age cutoff where you regard any sex=rape) can consent to sex.
That is a defense of child rape.
Just to spell it out: kids, including young teens, cannot consent to sex.
You are wrong, they can consent if the understand what is involved.
Consent. A concurrence of wills. Voluntarily yielding the will to the proposition of another; acquiescence or compliance therewith. Agreement; the act or result
of coming into harmony or accord. Consent is an act of reason, accompanied with deliberation, the mind weighing as in a balance the good or evil on each side.
You are confusing uninformed consent with actual consent. Knowing someone who was manipulated into “consenting” sex by adults when she was a young teen, and seeing the issues she’s dealt with over the years in no small part due to those experiences, I say that you are deluding yourself. Severely. I don’t know if your reasons are nutty or nefarious, but I sure know “uninformed consent at the time” in no way equals “no-harm sex “.
What you argue for doesn’t exist. And if it did, it would be indistinguishable from apparent but uninformed consent, so essentially you’re arguing that it’s not rape unless harm occurs in subsequent years. Which is pretty pointless moral guidance for someone considering sticking his elderly dick in a 13 year old girl.
I’m interested because the issues of sexual predators, family, and protection are closely related to the conflict between legislation and the law of the land. Most people are unaware of how the system misleads them about the nature of the law. The system takes the privilege of oath from the common law but it also denies that the source of this privilege exists.
Television (was) New Zealand is dropping BBC News which used to come on at off-peak hours, which one would think was a triumph for pragmatic, responsible, budget conscious services. It’s to be replaced by – infomercials. Or to put it another way Info-unmercifuls. Recommendation -Only to be watched in an alcoholic haze. If want to know more Radionz’s Mediawatch today.
Also being dropped by Television NZ (spit) – teletext function. It’s been serving NZ’s for 30 years and is particularly useful for older people. Hence why it is being dropped. Who gives a f..k for older people, they aren’t the advertisers preferred demographic which is – 15 to 55? after that you’re history old codgers!
John Drinnan broke the news of the dropping of BBC World on Friday. Its sad, but is thanks to the government chopping the TVNZ charter and telling it to make more idiot TV to make money (amazing how the same people who moan about our education system being ‘dumbed down’ seem fine with it happening to our television)..
As for Teletext, it was a damn good service. Not only did it provide captions for the deaf, but it provided information services to the general public with very low overheads, via simple RF signal, to a teletext capable TV (which cost a few hundred dollars). It would be way easier for a farmer in Marokopa to look up the weather on teletext than to use his smartphone or tablet.
and you condemned paedophilia” – that’s fucken right, I did, unlike you I don’t think raping children is a-okay
Paedophilia and raping children are two different things. In the original argument the paedophilia involved teenage girls as young as 13 soliciting. They were not crying rape, they were doing business.
You and your ‘law’ mates are the lowest scum around – twisting so that you can increase your self interest, and as for the not paying taxes you are just as selfish and self interested as the big fat corporate pigs who don’t pay tax by slime-ing out of it.
People and corporations don’t have the same status in law. Corporations owe their existence to the state, people do not. It’s not unfair to refuse to give money to something that is of no benefit to you.
What it means, North, is that corporations are subject to the law of the state, but people not subject to it. But people in a common law jurisdiction are still subject to the law of the land.
do you pay GST ugly or don’t they have that tax in canada?
I suppose you don’t utilise any of the services that society provides, you know, because you don’t pay tax lol
and as for your line “they were not crying rape” well, enough has been written about that and obviously it doesn’t fit with your morals, beliefs, or actions as evidenced in the threads discussing it. I am not surprised you don’t get what so many have tried to explain to you – it doesn’t fit with your self interest does it?
I don’t pay GST, the shop does. I pay the marked price.
Society doesn’t implement the taxation scheme, the state does.
Get a grip marty, you’re ranting.
A beautiful day with mokos so no chance to check TS but I did get to see that prissy little ex-crown prosecutor (you know that shit-arsed wee type, witheringly socially retarded, mock angelic) Simon Bridges on Q + A this morning.
Yeah, he’s the messenger boy with the the news that this corporate-tending-to-facist-if-necessary government is gonna take a hard line with people who “endanger saftey” in protest around foreign rape of our resources.
A black lie of course but your final proof that this government is traitorous. “But they broke the law”. Yeah, right. A law created by a devious harlot of a government which in one out of ten parts has it’s heart outside New Zealand and inside the pockets of the ilk of its leader. The nine out of ten parts are mediocre self-seekers and cargo-cult thickos who follow Key because they believe they could be him one day.
On this day of all days for Christ’s Sake, it’s only gonna make the hard folks go harder. That’s the big joke of it. The world ain’t the Tauranga District Court sitting in its indictable jurisdiction wee Simon. Where you jump up and down with your petty points and strut out of court in the conviction that you’re shit-hot. And where success is winning and when you win that’s ALWAYS justice, definitionally.
It’s been occurring to me for some time that sooner or later there is going to be significant civil unrest in this country. Bring it on Simon Bitch ! Pathetic, atrocious, little ex-crown prosecutor.
I do it all of the time on a android nexus7 with chrome with android. I have noticed that the javascript on my old iPad1 is crap for anything to do with javascript.
But I’ll check. Could you provide any more info about what OS you’re using?
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This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
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Yesterday I tried to link to this post on the prime real estate that is Open Mike post #1… so, finally getting the attention it deserves here it is:
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/03/30/the-myths-and-lies-about-the-domestic-purposes-benefit/
Two things stood out here
– there is no pressure on the parent who does a runner and these are largely male
– that one in two adult women will be in sole charge of a family at some point in their adult lives.
Now, the been there done that group of women, with a few exceptions like PB, are unlikely to be too impressed with the benefit hounding going on and women vote on the left.
Just how much would it cost the labour party to show at least some loyalty to a large group of their demographic and at least oppose some of the hounding. FFS some of it, like sending out letters to people’s 16 year old daughters telling them to go onto contraception aren’t even policies that it will cost anything to reverse ever – they just violate the civil rights of a young girl who has had no say in her domestic situation whosoever.
And, I am repeating myself here, if this is such a good idea for 16 year old girls to get these letters, then perhaps some voluntary group should receive a grant to write letters to all 16 year old girls on the same topic, even the daughters of Nact politicians.
I like this young woman! She is at the center of the “Topless Jihad” – a global protest where women bare their breasts rebelling against female oppression after Amina Tyler posted topless pictures of herself with “My body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone’s honor” written in Arabic.
Obviously this is found to be highly objectionable so her family shipped her off to a psych ward stating publically that she was suicidal and that is why she has posted the pics.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/amina-tyler-supporters-set-topless-jihad-day-april-4-article-1.1301311#ixzz2P3LzC9D8
Best pic is Amina extending her two fingers, topless, with the words, “fuck your morals”.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/03/30/april-4th-defend-amina/
Kiaora AWW
Here is another perspective worth reflecting on.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/8486908/Why-protests-must-be-culturally-appropriate
This comment is from Stuff’s blog:
Dear Author: I am a Muslim woman and think Amina’s protest is entirely culturally relevant in post-revolution Tunisia. Read the writing on Amina’s body: “My body is mine, not somebody’s honor” in Arabic. No protest that was universally loved and agreed with changed the world for the better. Please stop speaking for “everyday Muslims” such as myself. We can do without the sweeping generalizations about the “West” and “Islam”. They are simplistic and silly – even from someone taking on this native informant role. Muslim (or western) societies are not homogenous.
Hold onto your hats CHCH.
“The Government has taken three steps:
1. Required EQC to immediately shut down all external email systems – there will be no emails going into the organisation and none will be sent out.
2. Required EQC to immediately shut down all business-to-business systems and data exchanges as well as access into EQC systems by external parties.
3. Asked the Government’s Chief Information Officer Colin MacDonald to investigate and oversee the solutions for issues relating to information management within EQC.
I had to laugh (otherwise I would cry), so now instead of EQC doing nothing Gerry Brownlee has made it mandatory.
I would say the leaks are in all likelyhood deliberate, sent by staff disgruntled with the underhand way eqc is dealing with claims. Either that or they have some seriously incompetent staff with access to data that they really shouldnt. ( ala winz kiosks)
Wondered about just how accidental the EQC leaks really were Cricklewood.
And were the amounts of compensation listed on the released documents actually being given to the claimants or being with-held?
Media Release
Coal Free Mangatawhiri and Auckland Coal Action
Saturday 30th March 2013
Roadside Coal Protest at Mangatawhiri
Coal Free Mangatawhiri and Auckland Coal Action are joining forces on Monday to protest Fonterraʼs proposed new coal mine beside state highway 2.
Protesters will gather from 2pm at Mangatawhiri south of Auckland for the roadside rally protesting Fonterraʼs proposed new Mangatangi Mine.
They hope to engage with people queued in traffic on SH2 on their way back to Auckland.
Local residents, iwi and supporters from Auckland will be calling for ʻno new coalʼ and making the point that ʻcoal cooks the climateʼ in an awareness raising campaign against the proposed mine.
Public submissions on resource consents for the mine, closed this week with Waikato Regional Council and Waikato District Council. Hundreds of submissions were sent in by local residents, iwi and others opposing the proposed new coal mine at Mangatawhiri.
The resource consent applications were made by Fonterraʼs coal mining subsidiary Glencoal Energy Ltd, which is seeking consents for an open cast mine on farmland at Mangatawhiri right beside SH2.
If the mine goes ahead it will be highly visible to anyone driving along SH2. The mine is intended to produce 120,000 tonnes of coal a year to supply the Fonterra dairy factories at Waitoa, Hautapu and Te Awamutu. Fonterraʼs nearby Kopako coal mine is predicted to close in 2014.
Instead of opening a new coal mine in a farming community, locals believe Fonterra should phase out coal in favour of locally available cleaner burning, wood waste.
ENDS
A Farmer’s cooperative turns into a corporation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/8485681/Investor-tensions-evident-in-Fonterra
At the time of the farmer vote to turn Fonterra into a shareholding corporation there was severe misgivings that farmers, particularly less well off share milkers who had no vote, and whose incomes are reliant on milk prices would suffer, and so it is.
As farms become corporate factories with out roofs that increase profits, by driving down the livelihoods of the producers. Less sharemilkers will enter the industry, resulting in bigger farms staffed with employees, who like most NZ workers over the last three decades will have declining incomes. While, year after year, in favour of better shareholder returns, profits continuously exceed previous records. That is, until the whole top heavy edifice topples over as the profit bubble bursts under the combined weight of lack of skilled farmers without any commitment to the land, and less forgiving climatic conditions that will make farming less productive and rural life harsher for those doing it at the milk face.
The move to squeeze more out of farmers in favour of profits, may have some unforeseen (read forseen) outcomes.
Yeh I saw this too and it was a prefectly predictable outcome. Even at the time it was obvious that the Fonterra managers were going back and back with the proposals no matter how often the farmers voted them down. It was very much in management interests I imagine, to have two groups with vested interests, Farmers and bond holders to play off against each other, for their own gain and ultimately the sort of gain that comes from stock market listing and moving the whole lot into overseas ownership.
Mind you most of them vote for the Nact’s too, be careful what you wish for perhaps?
More legislation written for corporations and against the rights of our people to protest.
Masked as protecting us from our own “reckless and dangerous” behaviour and delivered by the Glove Puppet from Tauranga, Simon Bridges.
Parroting prepared lines, statements that were shameless begging the question and all with a deadpan face the Glove Puppet from Tauranga presented restrictions on our right to protest mineral and oil exploration off our coast.
– http://www.3news.co.nz/Crackdown-on-anti-drilling-protesters/tabid/423/articleID/292432/Default.aspx
Surely this would be unconstitutional and the right to protest protected if this was tested in law by the courts..
New Zealand has no constitution.
Bridges also, when asked, pretty much ruled out putting the O and G revenue into an investment fund (like in other oil rich nations). Which means all this money is going to be frittered on tax cuts.
This vexes me so.
Bridges has been through the rinse, and is likely as anyone else inside Parliament to actually believe in what he’s representing!
West Auckland my foot!
More from the Bank Bailout U$K Austerity Class War:
Disability rights activist Susan Archibald, in Edinburgh, said: ‘We have heard talk about “strivers and skivers”.
‘One person can be a striver one day and then get made redundant. Will they be a skiver the next day? That’s how easy it happens.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2301575/Axe-bedroom-tax–Thousands-protesters-join-demonstrations-cut-benefits.html
“John McArdle, from anti-disability discrimination campaign Black Triangle, said: ‘Every day our campaign receives more messages from desperate people who are on the brink of suicide.
‘This government is killing disabled people, and we must stand together and say enough is enough.’
Have seen this really interesting report on ChristChurch in the http://www.wsws.org website. It’d be good to if we could comment and/or criticise on it?
“Residents face bitter winter in New Zealand’s quake-hit city”
“Residents of the New Zealand city of Christchurch, devastated by the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed 185 people in February 2011, are facing a bitter winter. While the National Party government, city council and business investors concentrate on rebuilding the central business district, thousands of people, particularly those in working class suburbs, are into their third year of unresolved social stress and personal dislocation.”
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/30/nzch-m30.html
The Money Market’s P@mp John Yankee continues to flog off this Nation’s commonwealth (Asset Sales) and our ability to help and support our own people. The Market in the end does not mind if you end up in a workhouse. 🙁
http://benefitjustice.wordpress.com/ More on the U$K situation likely to come here too. 🙁
”
Workfare
March 18, 2013
This from our colleagues working hard to oppose workfare:
In one of his most disgusting manoeuvres yet, last week Iain Duncan Smith laid legislation to rewrite history to stop the 225,000 people who were sanctioned on his unlawful workfare schemes being able to reclaim what they are due.
To make matters worse, the bill is being rushed through parliament; the second reading; committee stage; and third reading are all scheduled for one day: this Tuesday.
As if this wasn’t outrageous enough, Labour have indicated that they will support the Bill.
Tell your MP to vote against these outrageous attempts to rewrite history and rob people of £130 million in benefit repayments with this one minute online form: http://action.pcs.org.uk/page/speakout/ask-your-mp-to-stop-the-government-changing-the-law-on-workfare”
“The savage attacks on benefits for unemployed, low paid workers, single parents and disabled which will push millions further into poverty and despair.
The vicious attacks on those in the rented sector whose landlords charge huge rents but who now face a cap in their Housing Benefit which is seeing families evicted and shipped out of London to find cheaper accommodation around the country.
The disgusting Bedroom Tax which will force council and social landlord tenants who claim Housing benefit and have a spare room to either pay more rent or downsize to a smaller home. This will hit 600.000 tenants. Tory Welfare minister responsible for this bedroom tax is Lord Freud who has a plush 4 bedroom London home as well as an 8 bedroom mansion elsewhere.”
UK Labour is still enmeshed in Blairism. Doesnt look to be getting out anytime soon.
Looks to me like Thatcherism is still strong. Making beneficiaries work for corporate megastores for free? Welcome back to the 10th century.
“Looks to me like Thatcherism is still strong”
I’d take Blairism over Thatcherism any century.
There really isn’t that much difference between the two. Both thrive on neoliberal claptrap.
Kyle Bass runs Hayman Capital. Here he talks about Japan’s impending financial/demographic implosion (including 10 finance ministers in just the last 5 years).
Not pretty. He makes several references to future severe social discontent as a result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY6IEpKRA7Y
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/30/bank-of-cyprus-depositors-lose-savings
“Bank of Cyprus depositors could lose up to 60% of their savingsCypriot finance officials say initial losses will be 37.5%, but up to 22.5% more could be taken if bank needs further capitalisation
But, but , but TPTB said Cyrpian banks were over-flowing with dirty Russian money, where is it then!
Capital controls will not be coming off, the accounts will be empty before that happens!
And a finger in the eye for Iceland, balance is important in the MSM!
More lies and BS, see how this all works!
So, a year and a half until the next general election, and the Labour party are still shitting on their own doorstep, mired in a fantasy land game plan to win (bribe) back 5% of the middle ground they think will open the door to the treasury.
Dumb arses.
The win is in the numbers who didn’t vote last time.
Bollocks to the sensibilities of centre right politics of nothingness.
Go left, that man.
If the nat’s are the worst negotiators, then NZ Labour must surely rank as worst political strategists, ever.
Not necessarily. The way I see it, this is strategy which is wanted by the *internationalists*, and being rolled out effectively, by giving the NACT a free ride, to what could easily be another 3 years.
As if it matters in real terms who the government is, the decline will continue, as the *foreign owners*, like any good hedge, control both sides of bet!
I’ll rephrase my perspective for the benefit of your world view:
As a lefty voter, NZ Labour must surely rank as worst political strategists, ever.
Try viewing Labour’s actions and strategy from the standpoint of it’s present as a centrist middle class party. One which is focussed on continuing (but socially moderating) the political economic status quo, while appealing to the top 1/3 of income earners.
When you do that it’s approach becomes entirely consistent and coherant.
I’m sure someone believes in what they’re doing, somewhere, playing the game like they are, but whatever the outcome (crushing defeat 😉 ), watching the cogs turn is like them cleaning a hammer with a walnut.
I can’t believe parties facing another three years in opposition aren’t out there getting those stay at home voters interested, engaged and motivating change, unless like said, they don’t really care about the majority of kiwis and pay lip service to the plight facing New Zealanders.
Time for that new left wing party idea to crop up again.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-politicians-are-sensi_b_2978297.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
An honest politician is one who stays bought, or why we are not allowed democracy on anything important, like the economy, and inequality!
And just make sure that no one knows WTF is going on, de-fund polsci.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/03/21/senate-votes-defund-political-science-research-save-tuition-assistance-budget-bill
But seriously, what answers has political science given us in the last 20 years? The other area to defund is economics, finance and financial engineering.
Yeah, when I think about it CV none worth listening to and to be honest once I’ve sorted out who the unhinged ideologues are and who’s worth listening to I reckon the most astute and nuanced appraisals are usually to be found buried in comments threads.
“I reckon the most astute and nuanced appraisals are usually to be found buried in comments threads.”
And now on live TV during question time, 2pm, channel 22 🙂
Pipe ruptures, who’d a thunk it.
http://www.katv.com/story/21831082/oil-spill-in-mayflower-near-lake-conway-subdivision-evacuated
I thought the Mayflower was one of the first four ships to get to America. They did that on sail I thought. Maybe I am not up with the modern ideas that now it is okay to have a major negative oil spill event every five years or so. Just part of the risk profile engineered in using the modern equipment and modern efficiencies of corporations as accepted by the modern governments.
open-mike 28/03
To: McFlock
You made the allegation, so the burden of proof is yours. Don’t expect me to assist you.
Slander is what this massive hole is all about. Slander was also the issue that was being discussed just before I was moderated into posting on open mike.
Context is everything. The original context was girls 13 and over who were repeatedly soliciting.
If these girls were being harmed, these who was forcing them?
Why are you bringing up Saville now? He is dead, had nothing to do with the South Auckland flap.
Just like you brought up fantasing.
Just like you brought up NABMLA.
You’re just slinging shit to divert from the fact that you’ve got no argument.
I reckon your comments are proof enough. You seem to think that harm can only result from force. And the original point wasn’t about slander, it was about appropriate responses to revelations that adults are paying to screw children. If you reckon a possible slander against yourself is more important, then that also says much about you.
What you reckon isn’t proof, it’s opinion.
I don’t think that.
O.K. Slander is important because it was the issue that was being discussed just before I was moderated into posting on open mike. It would be too convenient for you if I just dropped the issue.
Assuming you meant “then who was forcing them”, why are you raising force if force at the time is irrelevant to harm?
slander is a falsehood, right? What falsehood did I utter? You’re arguing that sex between a thirteen year old and a sixty year old can be consensual for the child, are you not?
McFlock, force is relevant because without anyone forcing the girls the most likely explanation is that they were soliciting of their own free will. The fact that they were doing this repeatedly suggests that they were not being harmed, so non-harm paedophilia is not an oxymoron like you said it was.
Like Redlogix said, paedophilia usually refers to pre-pubescent children, but in the rape culture thread it was also used in the context of older men having sex with teenage girls.
Your falsehood was:
You couldn’t show proof of your allegation, your argument was:
So McFlock, do you think that you can slander other people and just get away with it?
This is all beginning to sound rather familiar.
Frankly, a kid in the lower half of their teens is a child. Legally, as well.
Secondly, children can’t consent or do a contract. They have issues with impulse control, abstraction, and long term planning.
Thirdly, there are economic and other power issues at play in the case of prostitution, and sex in general. These are marked when one party is adult and the other is not. Both adults, fair enough, both can give informed consent all else being equal. Both kids, well both can be making the same mistake if it appears consensual. But an adult and a kid? Any adult with the interests of the child as a concern would bail based on the power imbalance implicit in the relationship.
Even if it were legal.
In general this is true not because they are not able to reach an agreement, but because they are under the power of another, i.e. their parents.
In the case the South Auckland girls the parental power argument isn’t so solid: either the girls are under the power of their parents which makes the parents responsible, or they are not (ie the family is dysfunctional), in which agreement and contract may be possible.
It’s got nothing to do with being under the power of their parents.
Kids can’t give informed consent because they lack experience, information and the ability to process that with long term objectives taken into full consideration.
Wrong again,. it is important for contracts.
SUI JURIS. One who has all the rights to which a freemen is entitled; one who is not under the power of another, as a slave, a minor, and the like.
2. To make a valid contract, a person must, in general, be sui juris. Every one of full age is presumed to be sui juris. Story on Ag. p. 10.
I think you might need a newer legal text. Preferably one that deals with new zealand law.
Just to spell it out: kids, including young teens, cannot consent to sex.
Sex without consent is rape.
You argue that young teens at the very least (you’ve been cagey on the exact age cutoff where you regard any sex=rape) can consent to sex.
That is a defense of child rape.
You are wrong, they can consent if the understand what is involved.
Consent. A concurrence of wills. Voluntarily yielding the will to the proposition of another; acquiescence or compliance therewith. Agreement; the act or result
of coming into harmony or accord. Consent is an act of reason, accompanied with deliberation, the mind weighing as in a balance the good or evil on each side.
You are confusing uninformed consent with actual consent. Knowing someone who was manipulated into “consenting” sex by adults when she was a young teen, and seeing the issues she’s dealt with over the years in no small part due to those experiences, I say that you are deluding yourself. Severely. I don’t know if your reasons are nutty or nefarious, but I sure know “uninformed consent at the time” in no way equals “no-harm sex “.
Wrong again. I said “if they understand what is involved”, which implies informed consent.
Why is it that slanderers refuse to admit they are wrong, but try to divert with straw men and other fallacies?
Sex with under-16s is against New Zealand law. Legally there is no possibility of informed consent.
Arguing you believe in some other philosophy of life does not negate that. Why are you so interested in the topic?
Ah, the “no true rapist” argument.
What you argue for doesn’t exist. And if it did, it would be indistinguishable from apparent but uninformed consent, so essentially you’re arguing that it’s not rape unless harm occurs in subsequent years. Which is pretty pointless moral guidance for someone considering sticking his elderly dick in a 13 year old girl.
Handle, the legality of it is based on fictions.
I’m interested because the issues of sexual predators, family, and protection are closely related to the conflict between legislation and the law of the land. Most people are unaware of how the system misleads them about the nature of the law. The system takes the privilege of oath from the common law but it also denies that the source of this privilege exists.
It is OK to want to protect others without needing an elaborate belief system to justify that. Did you have a particular 13-year old in mind?
Television (was) New Zealand is dropping BBC News which used to come on at off-peak hours, which one would think was a triumph for pragmatic, responsible, budget conscious services. It’s to be replaced by – infomercials. Or to put it another way Info-unmercifuls. Recommendation -Only to be watched in an alcoholic haze. If want to know more Radionz’s Mediawatch today.
Also being dropped by Television NZ (spit) – teletext function. It’s been serving NZ’s for 30 years and is particularly useful for older people. Hence why it is being dropped. Who gives a f..k for older people, they aren’t the advertisers preferred demographic which is – 15 to 55? after that you’re history old codgers!
John Drinnan broke the news of the dropping of BBC World on Friday. Its sad, but is thanks to the government chopping the TVNZ charter and telling it to make more idiot TV to make money (amazing how the same people who moan about our education system being ‘dumbed down’ seem fine with it happening to our television)..
As for Teletext, it was a damn good service. Not only did it provide captions for the deaf, but it provided information services to the general public with very low overheads, via simple RF signal, to a teletext capable TV (which cost a few hundred dollars). It would be way easier for a farmer in Marokopa to look up the weather on teletext than to use his smartphone or tablet.
I think the teletext system was affected by needing updates on its equipment, and TVNZ weren’t prepared to invest in this updating.
All of which is being replaved by Freeview.
open mike 28/03
To: Marty Mars
Paedophilia and raping children are two different things. In the original argument the paedophilia involved teenage girls as young as 13 soliciting. They were not crying rape, they were doing business.
People and corporations don’t have the same status in law. Corporations owe their existence to the state, people do not. It’s not unfair to refuse to give money to something that is of no benefit to you.
What the fuck does the last paragraph of your post at 17 mean, Ugly Truth ? It is utterly unintelligible.
I’m a bit hoha with your pronouncements on “law”. You seem always to get it very wrong.
What it means, North, is that corporations are subject to the law of the state, but people not subject to it. But people in a common law jurisdiction are still subject to the law of the land.
What do you think that I get wrong?
do you pay GST ugly or don’t they have that tax in canada?
I suppose you don’t utilise any of the services that society provides, you know, because you don’t pay tax lol
and as for your line “they were not crying rape” well, enough has been written about that and obviously it doesn’t fit with your morals, beliefs, or actions as evidenced in the threads discussing it. I am not surprised you don’t get what so many have tried to explain to you – it doesn’t fit with your self interest does it?
I don’t pay GST, the shop does. I pay the marked price.
Society doesn’t implement the taxation scheme, the state does.
Get a grip marty, you’re ranting.
lol you pay the marked price – what a hero.
btw have you tried the old agree and ask a question line with the legal system yet?
A beautiful day with mokos so no chance to check TS but I did get to see that prissy little ex-crown prosecutor (you know that shit-arsed wee type, witheringly socially retarded, mock angelic) Simon Bridges on Q + A this morning.
Yeah, he’s the messenger boy with the the news that this corporate-tending-to-facist-if-necessary government is gonna take a hard line with people who “endanger saftey” in protest around foreign rape of our resources.
A black lie of course but your final proof that this government is traitorous. “But they broke the law”. Yeah, right. A law created by a devious harlot of a government which in one out of ten parts has it’s heart outside New Zealand and inside the pockets of the ilk of its leader. The nine out of ten parts are mediocre self-seekers and cargo-cult thickos who follow Key because they believe they could be him one day.
On this day of all days for Christ’s Sake, it’s only gonna make the hard folks go harder. That’s the big joke of it. The world ain’t the Tauranga District Court sitting in its indictable jurisdiction wee Simon. Where you jump up and down with your petty points and strut out of court in the conviction that you’re shit-hot. And where success is winning and when you win that’s ALWAYS justice, definitionally.
It’s been occurring to me for some time that sooner or later there is going to be significant civil unrest in this country. Bring it on Simon Bitch ! Pathetic, atrocious, little ex-crown prosecutor.
Don’t mention the chemtrails, he’s the minister for climate change issues. 😉
north
+1
Me too.
Turned the TV off. Couldn’t even bear to look at the supercilious little toad. He reminds me of a youthful Tony Ryall.
lprent just wondering if there’s a way to edit a comment posted from a tablet using chrome?
I do it all of the time on a android nexus7 with chrome with android. I have noticed that the javascript on my old iPad1 is crap for anything to do with javascript.
But I’ll check. Could you provide any more info about what OS you’re using?
Young Simon had a wee laugh (hehe) on his Facebook page at the idea of slapping the interviewer. Screenshots are lovely things. What a scumbag.